A Twist in Time Travel
by Mephyr
Summary: When Voldemort reigns supreme and all your loved ones are dead, The world is in Chaos and you are alone, what's the solution that comes to mind? Suicide? That's what Harry Potter wanted to do but Fate has other plans for him especially when its own plans are in disarray...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: EM BACK! Happy? Not Happy? Well right now I am in too much of a good to care... Through many hardships and toils, I have finally posted a new story. Just between us, the story should have been updated in September but then Things came in the way both for me and my Beta, Alice In The Woods. Good thing that she managed to give such a thorough proof reading to this story otherwise it wouldn't have been worth it.**

 **So here it is, a bit shorter but already complete. It has only three parts, I'll upload them on a tri-weekly schedule... Love it or hate it just don't forget to tell me. With that I sign out! Enjoy.**

A twenty-five-year-old Harry Potter sat nursing a glass of fire whiskey in his hand as he stared at the morbid wall of the ramshackle house in which he currently lived. The wallpaper was peeling off from here and there. At some places, even the old, weathered and beaten looking bricks could be seen. But it was only reflecting the state of the house. Of the moderate size house, only one or two rooms still had a roof standing over it and broken furniture littered the whole house. This was the current home of Harry Potter, once the saviour of the Wizarding World and the Chosen one. Also functioning as the temporary headquarter of the resistance. Resistance against the Emperor of half of the world, Lord Voldemort.

He remembered vividly, the events of the last eight years which led him to this state. How could he forget the betrayals of everyone he once cared about? Masked under the guise of looking out for their own flesh and blood, everyone had turned towards the winning side. Dumbledore's Army, The Weasleys and even his long-time best friends. All had abandoned him in the fight against Voldemort.

All bar one.

It all started eight years ago, when he started hunting Horcruxes alongside his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the beginning, the hunt went as expected. There were a few bumps in the road but by the end of the year, they had destroyed almost all the Horcruxes. It was when they were heading to Hogwarts to destroy the last Horcrux that he received the biggest shock of his life.

Voldemort was waiting for them in Hogsmeade. Realizing that he had walked into a trap, he tried to hold onto Hermione so that they could immediately disapparate, only to find the bushy-haired girl's wand trained on him. Before he could make sense of the situation, he felt another wand jabbing him in the neck. Turning around, he found Ron smirking.

"It's not that we have anything against you. We just don't see ourselves winning and we have our families to think of." That was the reason he heard from the mouth of the girl he had relied on so much.

"Yeah," Ron didn't let go of the moment to rub salt in his wound. "Did you really think we could defeat someone like him by ourselves? I had doubted it from the beginning and when he contacted us with the offer to pardon us and our family if we helped in your capture then we thought, why not? You are a great friend Harry but we weren't going to put the life of our families in danger just for you."

At that moment he felt nothing. His mind had shut down completely. Darkness encroached upon his vision. The thing that he least expected, heck the thing farthest from his mind, had happened to him. His closest friends had betrayed him.

He would have preferred to die at that moment. He was ready for it. But even his own body wasn't with him then. Instincts honed from the very beginning to save his life awakened at that moment, and without being aware of it, he was fighting back.

He escaped from that trap and somehow made his way to the Weasley household, The Burrow. He had hoped to find some shelter at the place that he had come to recognize as home. The people that lived there had come to see him as their own son.

But what awaited him there was a harsh reality of how blood will always be blood. At first, they welcomed him with open arms. When he told them about Ron and Hermione, they assured him that they didn't know. They suggested that he sleep there for the night before going out again.

Once again, it was his instincts that came to his rescue. The death eaters would have stunned him and taken him away if he hadn't sensed their approach.

Disillusioned by everyone, he ran away. No longer was there anyone he trusted. For six months, he evaded his pursuers. Not because he wanted to live, but because there was nothing else for him to latch onto. The only purpose he had left was the destruction of Horcrux.

There was one person, though, where he knew he could find solace. But he didn't want to go there. For if he was rejected there, Harry knew he would truly die.

In the end, his luck ran out. There was so much he could run. More than two dozen Death Eaters tracked him down.

It was the hardest battle of his life. There wasn't a single part of his body which wasn't bleeding. Even his finger joints were broken. Yet, he fought back. Even without wanting to, he strived to live. There was a part of him screaming to survive. He didn't know why, but it did. Blinded by grief and shock, having his light blocked from him, he just listened to that voice and matched spell with a spell.

In the end, he managed to survive. It was a feat he hadn't managed to reproduce since then. His vision was blurry and his body and soul broken completely. He had lost so much blood, the number of broken bones counted more than the intact ones. He was sure then that he would die now. The one thing he had the satisfaction of was that Voldemort didn't see him dying, nor did his traitorous friends.

When he came back to reality, the first he saw was a curtain of red color, his favorite shade too. As sleep vanished from his eyes, he came to know that the curtain of red belonged to his favorite person.

He just couldn't hold it anymore. Clinging to Ginny Weasley, he cried like a baby. He hadn't cried since he was ten. But now, he couldn't hold it anymore, the weight of the treachery was too much for him to bear. He told her everything, of the treachery of his best friends and her parents. There was a small part of him that feared that she might have betrayed him too but seeing her in front of him, he couldn't bring himself to care anymore.

Ginny just listened patiently, occasionally offering soothing words as Harry cried on her shoulder while she rubbed his back.

When Harry had calmed down a bit, she told him about what was going on in Hogwarts, how Fawkes carried him here, how almost everyone had aligned with Voldemort. And, Also the beheading of Remus Lupin and his family. The guy had refused to abandon Harry and paid the ultimate price.

"I am alone Ginny, there's no one left," his voice was soulless, without a single spark of life.

Ginny just pulled back slightly and said one line which made Harry fall in love with her even more, if that was possible.

"No, Harry. Even if the whole world turns against you, I'll always be by your side. I'll fight the whole world with you."

And that was when Harry knew that this girl would never betray him, even if it meant going against her own family. That he had found a true companion.

And yet, here he was, after eight years, completely alone. Fate was cruel, he decided. First, it took away his parents, then his friends and then the love of his life.

A loud laugh reverberated through the whole house. This was the world of traitors, backstabbers, and selfish people, and he was trying to save it.

He resented it. Resented it that he was alive, resented that everyone he loved was dead. What did he ever do to deserve it?

A clang, the voice of glass breaking, and a splash. The glass fell to the floor and broke into thousand tiny pieces, But Harry's stupor was unbroken. He was lost in a world of memories.

Memories of Sirius in that gloomy Grimmauld Number 12.

Memories of Remus teaching in a kind way.

Memories of Tonks being clumsy.

But, most of all, memories of Ginny. Her smile, her warmth, the radiance of her red hair, the glow of her cheek, of them marrying, of them living happily in this house, of him becoming a father.

"WHY?" a scream that would have shaken the heaven, should have shaken the heaven, ripped from his throat. Tears streamed down his face covered with his hands as he tried to find words to express his sorrow.

"Why?" Nothing but this.

"Why?" no other word came to his mind. Furiously, he searched his mind for some other word to relieve his grief, yet the only thing he could utter was "why, why?" till it became incomprehensible among his sobs.

Time lost all meaning as he kept crying. He didn't know when darkness overtook him and he fell down on the cold hard floor, unconscious.

…

Soft.

That was the first thing Harry felt when he woke up. It had been a long time since he had slept in a comfortable bed. It felt too nice to get up.

But then, the memories of the day came flooding and he sat up suddenly. He shouldn't be sleeping in a comfortable bed. He didn't have one.

His eyes wandered around. This wasn't the kind of room he had ever been in his life, his experience at the Hogwarts included. The soft creamy walls with a hint of golden, although bland, somehow looked grand and majestic. The king sized bed in which he was sleeping had curtains that looked to be silk. He hadn't thought that beds this comfortable existed.

As he got down from the bed, his toes dug into the velvety soft rug underneath. He couldn't help but sigh, such was the effect of the carpet. Or maybe he just had been away from such thing for too long. Harry couldn't help but wonder which one it was.

But the thing that had his curiosity was who would have put him in such a comfort. It couldn't be Voldemort. He would never give such comfort to his arch nemesis. Or maybe he would, the twisted mind of Voldemort was beyond his understanding.

Not that he cared, whether it was a friend or foe. Friend, that was nice. It had been a long time since he had met one. Foe, even better.

He looked around, trying to find a way out. There was a huge oak door right in front of him at some distance.

When he was walking towards the door, he realized that the room was huge. Bigger than the size of the whole boys' dorm in Gryffindor.

He tried not to think about it as he walked towards the door. Even eight years weren't enough to fill some wounds.

What faced him as he opened the door was a long straight corridor. Just then, he felt a pull at his heart, like someone was calling him.

He didn't resist it and started walking. His feet guided him through many twists and turns in the building that seemed never ending. After what seemed like a long time, Harry could see a door in front of him.

Reaching out, he placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it. Fascinated, he watched as the door opened to reveal a vast hall, decked out in the same off white colour that seemed to adorn the wall of this building. But unlike the room and the corridors that he had passed through, this hall was lavishly furnished. Woollen rugs were laid on the floor, a deep red in colour. Various painting and decorations hung from the wall, and right in the middle of the room was a large table.

His eyes were drawn to the three men sitting at the table. Men? Was that the right word? Their faces so clear yet so blurry.

"Come, Come Mr. Potter." The man in the middle spoke. He was the most elegant of the three, radiating an aura of authority and leadership.

His eyes flicked towards the man sitting on the right side. For a moment he was puzzled. With a head full of white hair and lines crossing all over his face he looked old, somehow older than time.

The man on the left couldn't be missed even in a throng of people. His face was expressionless yet his presence was larger than life.

"Mr. Potter." Once again the man in the middle spoke. "The dinner is getting cold."

For the first time, Harry noticed the top of the table which was unusual considering how famished he was feeling. It was laden with dozens of dishes emanating a sweet fragrance which only increased his hunger.

As he sat on the opposite side of the table he opened his mouth to ask a question but was cut off.

"Your curiosity will be sated Mr. Potter, but first it's the turn of your hunger."

Harry didn't need much convincing on that matter. As soon as he put the first morsel in his mouth he was blown away. Just what kind of food was this? Even the most delicious meals that he had eaten seemed drab and tasteless. His hunger that had left him since Ginny's death returned to him. In fact, he had never felt this hungry before.

After he had overstuffed himself with some delicious food, the dishes disappeared with a snap of finger replaced by steaming cup of tea.

"Nothing like a good cup of tea to go with such delicious food don't you think?"

Harry placed his cup down. "Not that I don't appreciate such good food, but where am I and who are you?" He asked firmly.

The man laughed, his voice rich and strong as it resonated through the empty hall. "Why don't you take a wild guess, Mr. Potter?"

Harry arched his eyebrow, "A wild guess? Let's see am I dead?"

"Not far as you would expect Mr. Potter, but neither are you right." The man answered. "You are in the afterlife but you are not dead."

"Great. So we do get an afterlife." Harry commented.

"That's not the usual response."

"Do you call many people here?"

"Not really. You are the first in centuries."

"Great." Harry smiled deprecatingly. "I am special even here. Hey, I have a question."

"Sorry, you cannot meet others who are dead." The man answered.

"Had to try." Harry sighed. "So you still haven't answered my question?"

"Surely you have some idea by now?"

"God?"

The man started chuckling. "No, nothing that magnificent Mr. Potter. Let me introduce us formally. Don't worry I am going to use names that are familiar to you."

"Familiar?" Harry muttered. He had a feeling since the beginning that these people were no ordinary men.

"This man." He gestured towards the old man sitting on his left. "is Time himself. One of the three guardian deities that watch over your world. He controls the flow of time."

"And this." He gestured towards the expressionless man. "Is Death. I think a popular name for him is Grim Reaper. The second of the Guardian deities."

"And I." The man inclined his head. "Am Fate. The final of the guardian deities. And this is," he smirked. "Our humble abode. Castle of Guardians."

Harry's mouth had dropped open and he was staring at them like a madman. When he had thrown god out there casually he wasn't expecting to be so close to the truth.

And then he remembered. All the injustices, all the betrayals and the tragedies that he had suffered in his life and they were probably thinking of making it up to him somehow.

His face contorted in disgust. "So what do you want from me?"

"Come now Mr. Potter, you are an intelligent man. Surely you have guessed what we want by now."

"And why would I want to be your tool?" Harry spat.

"Because you will get a chance to save the people that you love the most."

"You mean the people that you took away in the first place?" Harry questioned, his eyes smouldering with anger.

"Now Mr. Potter, it isn't our place to interfere in the world. We only watch and observe."

"You mean only when your own asses aren't on the line?" Harry stood up. "You don't give a fuck about what happens to people do you?"

"No, we don't give a fuck about people as you so eloquently put Mr. Potter," Fate spoke coldly. "It isn't our job to care about people even if we could care anyway."

Harry sat down, shock written all over his face. He wasn't expected to be rebutted in such a way. "T-then why?"

"Let's just say you have friends in high place." Fate was back to his usual smiling demeanour.

"Mr. Potter." This was the first time that death had spoken and he could already feel an immense pressure on himself. Death's voice was cold and the temperature dropped several degrees.

"We'll let this go this time Mr. Potter but don't forget we are no ordinary people."

Harry gulped and nodded. For the first time, he noticed the might of his company.

"So these friends in high places." He was eager to break this freezing silence. "Did God order you?"

Fate bowed his head and sighed. "To be honest, we don't know whether God exists or not."

"What?" Surprise was rapidly becoming his signature expression. "But aren't you, um, I don't know, the upper administration of the universe? Surely you have met God if there is one."

"Or many." This time, Time spoke.

"Yes many." Harry corrected himself.

"You humans are rather fixated on this question aren't you." Fate gave a wry smile. "Believe me, Mr. Potter, in my unbelievably long life, I have never met an entity calling Himself God."

"Then who gave you this job?" He couldn't help himself with the question. It all sounded so fascinating. He was never a religious person and had never given two seconds to think about the existence of a higher being. But here, sitting in the afterlife it all seemed so interesting to him.

"No idea." Fate shrugged his shoulder. "For as long as I can remember I have been documenting the happening of your world."

"Aren't you ever curious whether something like god exists?"

"Not really." He shook his head. "Curiosity, indifference, happiness, sadness. these emotions and feelings are the burdens of mortals to bear. We don't possess anything of such."

"Oh." Harry let out. "Then who are these 'friends in high places'?"

"Just someone." Fate answered. "Back to the topic at hand. We have given you a proposition Mr. Potter but we can't force you to accept it. So what is your decision?"

"Let me understand what you have told me." Harry shifted in his seat. "I get to go back in time, redo all this mess, save my loved one in the process and what do you get?"

"Nothing but the overturning of a great injustice." Fate smirked.

"Please." Harry rolled his eyes. "You said yourself you don't give a damn about people so why would you want to send me back."

"Everything that has a beginning has an end, you have heard that right Mr. Potter?"

"Apocalypse."

"Apocalypse, Judgment day, doomsday, Ragnarok, Qyammah, whatever you call it." Fate shrugged. "We call it End."

"So what about the End?"

"Well due to the machinations of your friend, Voldemort, it is fast approaching but your other friend, the one in the high place, he doesn't like the approaching doom so he asked us to overturn it and since the matter is of 'The End' we decided to grant his request."

"So if I decline your request, the world will end in another ten years?" Harry asked.

"No not that fast but around in the next five thousand years or so."

"Five thousand years!" Harry exclaimed. "That's a long time."

"Do you know how old is Earth?" Fate asked.

"Uh, I think four billion years?" Harry said remembering an old documentary that he watched with Ginny for laughs. They had just gotten a TV and she wanted to try it out.

"4.5 billion years." Fate corrected. "Does that compare to a measly five thousand years? It's like the blink of an eye."

"Huh," Harry said. "That's true."

"The approaching End aside, what would be your decision?"

"So no strings attached?" Harry asked slowly. "I can just go back in time and do what I want."

"As long as it results in the death of Voldemort, yes. Which I don't think I need to add."

Harry sat there, the steaming cup of tea long forgotten, his eyes narrowed. This was a tempting offer, really tempting. And that was the problem. Nothing in his life had ever come without an onslaught of new obstacles.

"You can doubt us all you want." Fate recognized the look on his face. "We have put everything in front of you and it is your decision."

What the hell, shrugged Harry.

"I'll take your bait."

Fate clapped jovially. "That's the spirit. If you wish you can begin your journey now or you can rest for a few more hours. Time really is of no essence to us." He pointedly looked towards the man on the left.

"No." Harry stood up. "I would rather go back now."

"Hm. See that door on your left?"

Harry swivelled around wanting to say what door? He hadn't seen any when he came in but to his utter surprise, there was a wooden door.

He smiled and shook his head, he was in the presence of Fate, he should have been expecting such tricks.

"One last time, are you sure don't want to take a few days to ponder over the situation and make a rough plan?"

"Nope, I would rather take a plunge now than later."

He got up and started walking towards the door resolutely. The door to his past, where everyone waited for him. Every single traitor and backstabber. And her. He couldn't wait to see her, even if it meant staring again into the face of everyone he now loathed.

Just as he reached the door he remembered something and turned around.

"You said guardian of this world. Does that mean there are other worlds?"

Fate started chuckling.

"I was wondering when you would get around to that, another one of the major concern of your people. As for the answer, I am not at the liberty to answer."

"Guessed as much." Harry shrugged. "Oh well, off I go."

"We wish you good luck Mr. Potter and may the flow of time be on your side this time." From the wizened man who called himself time, these words were disconcerting.

He opened the door. What awaited him was utter darkness. He couldn't see a single thing. The blackness threatened to engulf the door frame even. Gulping, he stepped into the darkness.

And that's when he remembered something important.

He had forgotten to ask how far in the past he would go.

He turned around to ask but it was too late now, the darkness had begun to engulf him.

…

He woke up with a start, the world a hazy blur to him, which was wrong. He was pretty sure he was wearing his contacts when he met with fates.

Fates.

Time Travel.

His hand reached towards the bed table abruptly, his hand coming in contact with his long forgotten glasses. He put them on and looked around. Red curtains hung around him and the bed was familiarly comfortable.

He was in Gryffindor dormitory.

Gingerly he got up and then fell down. His head swam as soon as he tried to stand up. His balance was off which was to be expected since his consciousness used to his much larger body had just gotten transferred to his younger body.

But that wasn't the main concern. The main problem was what year was it.

He cursed himself thinking how could he forget to ask such a simple thing.

"Mate!"

He froze, his blood ran cold and his face turned pale.

"Harry, you alright? I heard someone falling.

A face peeked through the curtain, a young pale freckled face with a shock of orange-red hair. He could detect genuine concern on his face amidst the sleepiness.

The contorted sneer maligned the innocent smiling face of his best friend.

Anger erupted inside him. A boiling hot lava that had been smouldering inside him for years. He wanted to reach out and strangle this creature, this mass of jealousy and insecurity that he had kept close to himself for so long, choosing to ignore all of his shortcomings just because he was his first friend.

Fucking traitor.

But now wasn't the time to grant his wishes.

"Ron which year are we in?" He tried his best to keep the anger out of his voice and thought he largely succeeded.

Not that the thick-headed bastard would notice. He internally seethed.

"What?" the bewilderment was quite evident in his voice. "You lost your memory or something?"

"Just answer the question."

"Geez don't bite my head will you and here I thought you were a morning person."

"Ron!" his incessant rambling was too much for his raw nerves and he let some anger seep into his voice.

"Fourth-year mate. You sure you're alright?"

"I am fine, now go back to sleep. We still have a couple of hours before we need to get up."

"No need to tell me twice." Muttered Ron, stifling a yawn as his face disappeared.

He could hear soft padded footsteps and then hear the sheets rustling before Ron's snores joined the cacophony that was his dorm room.

While before Harry may have just shook his head and ignore it, now it gyrated his nerves. The sound was like Styrofoam rubbing against each other or someone making a screeching sound with the chalk on the blackboard. Pure agony.

Abruptly he got up, his head swam with dizziness but he managed to control it this time. Grabbing his toiletries, he went to the bathroom performing his daily ritual.

After getting dressed, he left the dormitory as soon as he could. His consciousness was adjusting nicely to his body but he had to find out about his magical reserves. He was used to spending a lot more magic than his fourteen-year-old self.

He stopped at the turn of the stairs and stared. The common room should be empty at this time. It was fucking four in the morning but there she was sitting with her feet tucked in, her head leaning against the cushioned back of the sofa. The coppery hair was visible as a burning flame against the soft gold colour of the sofa.

Ginny.

He swallowed. Hard. There she was sitting just a few feet away from him, the only one for whom he agreed to this ridiculous plan. All he had to do was walk a few feet and then he can hold her again.

His feet started to move on their own, his mind too numb to process what was happening. With great reluctance, he managed to stop his feet. He remembered the thirteen-year-old Ginny. The shy stuttering one. He almost groaned. One more year. Why couldn't fate just send him just one year ahead?

It wouldn't do to startle her. He decided. He tried to turn back and return to the hellhole of the dormitory which could be made bearable by a silencing charm but it was too late.

"Harry."

She had turned around and was looking at him directly. In the darkness, he could feel the blood moving to her cheeks.

Her eyes were even more beautiful than he remembered. His heart fluttered and his palms became sweaty. All he wanted to do was to hug her and kiss her all over.

He gulped.

Stupid plan.

Thankfully his brain had started working again.

"Erm, yeah. Sorry to disturb you." He muttered.

"No!" her voice was an octave higher than he remembered. She must be feeling embarrassed, Harry realized.

"I was about to go up. I came here to erm," she fumbled. "Oh yeah, I came to get water."

"Right," Harry muttered to himself. He distinctly remembered each dormitory having its own drinking water supply to facilitate the students.

It would be hard, but problems don't go away by avoiding them. He had to start talking to her no matter how he wished that Ginny would actually be able to hold a proper conversation with him.

He didn't think he had enough time nor control to wait around for Ginny to regain her confidence around him.

"You don't have to lie to me." Harry started climbing down. "I know you still have nightmares about the chamber, especially the night when you return from home."

"Erm, I don't know what you are talking about."

Harry sat down on the couch opposite to Ginny and stared at her. She looked so young and innocent than what he remembered. In the dim light, he could see the tomato red colour adorning her cheeks.

"You can sleep here if you want. I'll wake you up before anyone gets here." Harry completely ignored her.

"No, No." She shook her head vehemently. "I'll go back to the dormitory."

"Don't be so stubborn." Harry snapped. "I know you won't be able to sleep there."

For a moment, he could see her eyes ablaze, a different kind of redness creeping up her neck. Her eyebrows twitched and Harry was sure she was going to yell at him. A momentary grin graced his lips. Yet it didn't happen.

It might just be fun getting to know her from this phase. Thought Harry.

"I am completely awake."

Her stubbornness made him chuckle. She never did well with being told what to do. And that rebellious streak was the reason he fell in love with her in the first place, aside from her being sinfully beautiful.

Nope, that's not helping.

"Why are you laughing?" She demanded.

That only made him laugh harder.

"WHAT?"

Harry jumped from the sheer force of the voice.

Alright, that was scary.

"N-nothing." His eyes darted from here and there hoping that Ginny hadn't learned her bat bogey hex yet. It was a particularly painful one, especially the groin variation that Ginny had invented herself.

Nope, Bill taught her before she came to Hogwarts.

The thought of the traitorous family was enough to end all the humour in the situation.

"You really should sleep," Harry spoke with a bit more serious tone. "Don't want to sleep during the first day of classes."

"And you?"

"I've slept enough. I am not used to sleeping after four."

"No, you wake up at six."

Right.

"I've changed a bit." He had to tell her at some point. She was the only support he could count on here.

"In a day?"

"It's a bit more complicated. Why don't you go to sleep, We'll talk during breakfast?"

With a wave of his hand, he conjured a blanket and handed it to Ginny whose eyes had gone wide in disbelief.

Uh oh.

"H-how did you do that?" She whispered.

He could feel fatigue setting in. Just that bit of magic had made him quite tired. He should have used his wand.

Note to self, no more usage of wandless magic.

"Shhh." He placed a finger on his lips. "Don't tell anyone, please. It's one of my secrets."

Ginny nodded slowly grabbing the blanket from his outstretched hand. She draped it over her shoulder and stared at him.

That's how she spent the next hour.

Not minding that Ginny was openly staring at him, he was used to far worse, Harry closed his eyes and started meditating. That magic had left him a lot more fatigued and he had to replenish his magical supplies as soon as he can. He might need to teach Severus Snape a lesson.

He delved deep into his mind, coming across the piece of soul that Voldemort had left in him. A shocking discovery, but He and Ginny were somehow able to trace the connection that he had with Voldemort back to this shard. He grimaced and decided to leave it alone for now. He would need quite a bit of preparation and time to remove it.

Leaving it behind, he dived even deeper till he came across his essence, the place where the magic originated.

He gauged his magic. It was weaker than what he was used to but he had to make do for now. He was about to break his meditation when he felt something.

His nerves tingled, his heart started beating faster and perspiration started coming out from every pore of his body.

His core was overloading.

He hadn't realized that his magic had come back with him in time. It was like he was completely here just in a smaller body.

A body not used to this enormous amount of magic.

Oh, Crap.

He slowed down his breathing, trying to control it. In the distance, he could hear someone calling for him.

He thought it would be a long battle, but it wasn't to be. The feeling went away as soon as it came but the power he felt was still here.

Somehow his body had absorbed the excessive magical power.

Strange.

He opened his eyes and saw Ginny standing in front of him, worry lined her beautiful face.

"Harry what happened?"

"Oh, nothing." He smiled. "Just another one of my secrets."

Just then Ginny noticed how close she was standing to Harry. A furious blush came across her face and she immediately retreated, almost falling down on the sofa.

And resumed her staring.

On the other hand, Harry became busy in checking his new, well old, magical power. He felt a lot fuller, like he was about to explode. His fingertips were vibrating with magic but otherwise, it was completely in control. There was no accidental burst of magic. No glass breaking, no flying objects which was always good.

That would make his plans easy.

Plans that he had yet to formulate.

He looked up at Ginny who was still staring at him. Finding his eyes trained on her, she flushed crimson and looked away.

"I don't mind you ogling, others not so much." A smirk played on his lips.

"I wasn't ogling." Ginny immediately shot back with ferocity before her hands clamped her mouth.

"Sorry." She muttered.

Harry immediately burst out laughing. Younger Ginny was so easy.

"You git!" She said as she realized Harry was having her on.

Harry just smiled at her. It was unthinkable that she wouldn't be on his side. But how would he tell her that her whole family was a bunch of traitors? That wouldn't be an easy conversation, pending that she actually believes that he travelled back in time.

And that was just one of the many problems. He had to take revenge and kill Voldemort. He wasn't just going to let them live because they wouldn't have a chance to betray him this time.

No, he would make them pay for what they did to him in the future.

And he was sure Ginny would be by his side when that happens.

…

There were many things that he had to do but first of them were to write letters. Letters to Remus, Sirius and Tonks. The three people other than Ginny whose loyalty he was sure of. Admittedly Tonks didn't know him in this lifetime yet but he had a plan to get her on board too.

Five. At least the odds were better than the last time around.

While Ginny went up to her dormitory to get ready, he brought parchment down to the sofa. He didn't need to take classes so he had to spend the time somehow.

He was halfway through the first letter when Ginny came down. Seeing her curiosity piqued by the letter he answered for her.

"I am writing to Sirius."

"Sirius Black?" Ginny gasped. "The mass murderer? Why would you write to him?"

Oh yeah, she didn't know yet.

"Didn't Ron tell you?" He knew Ron didn't tell her.

"Tell me what?" She demanded.

"Come on I'll tell you on the way," Harry answered picking his bag and putting the parchment and the quill inside.

On the way, his hand almost reached out to grab hers but he desisted. Instead, he told her all about Sirius Black. Step one, incorporate her in his life.

There wasn't much that she said, her shyness had returned tenfold since she came back from the dormitory.

He fell silent as the doors of the Great Hall came near. He opened it and slipped inside. It was still early so not many people were there.

The breakfast was silent. He tried to engage Ginny in conversation but gave up partway through. She just wouldn't open her mouth, preferring to answer in grunts.

Halfway through, Ron and Hermione joined them on the breakfast table, much to Harry's annoyance.

"Harry, why didn't you wait for me?"

The question came after Ron had laden his plate full of food and crumbs had started flying everywhere which irritated him to no end, then again even Ron breathing would annoy him.

He didn't answer opting to remain silent while Hermione laid into Ron once again on proper etiquettes during eating.

The continued bickering was having a nauseating effect on him. How was he able to endure it before? He had no idea. Looking over at Ginny he found the same distorted expression on her face.

He smiled at her, hoping to put her at ease. Instead, a faint blush adorned her cheeks and she looked down.

At least she looks prettier this way.

Losing his appetite, he stood up and leaned over the table. Ginny seemed shocked to find Harry so close to her.

"Meet me after class will you?" Harry whispered.

"What are you whispering in my little sister's ear?"

For someone thick-headed, he sure noticed things that he shouldn't notice.

"None of your damn business." He turned towards the redheaded pig and growled.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped. "Language."

"Hermione." Harry imitated her voice. "Other people's business."

She swivelled back, a hurt look on her face. A guilty feeling rose in his heart seeing tears in Hermione's eyes but he quickly squashed it down. She was the same girl who sold him to Voldemort.

He picked his bag and turned towards Ginny.

"I have eaten enough. Later."

He marched towards the door and disappeared out of sights.

As soon as he left, Ron turned on Ginny.

"What was all that about? Why is he so chummy with you?"

Ginny gave him a scathing look. "Ask him yourself, you dipshit!"

She too picked her bag and went out of the great hall.

It was still early but Harry was already sitting in the class, formulating the best plan to avoid the

traitorous everyone and writing a letter to Remus and Sirius. They weren't terribly long, just asking them to be here the next Hogsmeade weekend and that he had something important to discuss with them.

The day went by in a haze. The classes kept coming and going. He completed his classwork as soon as he could and spent the rest of time thinking of his approach to the myriads of the problems he faced. A rough plan was beginning to form in his mind.

By the time the classes were over, the teachers were going stir crazy with the improvement he had shown. He was always one of the last few to get the spell right, mind you that was mostly because he and Ron were always up to no good but now he was the first one to complete every single assignment. Hermione had been shooting him worried glances but he managed to avoid her through the day.

After the last of the class had let them out, he stormed out of the class avoiding Hermione on the way who was moving towards the door like a bullet in order to intercept him. He was hoping Ginny was in the common room so they could get out of there before Hermione had a chance to corner him. He didn't fancy killing her yet.

His luck was holding out, he found Ginny sitting on the large sofa in the common room. Her head was thrown back and her eyes closed. She looked to be resting.

"Ginny!" He felt a bit guilty at disturbing her but there were more important things on his mind.

Her eyes shot open and she looked here and there scared out of her wits. Finally, her eyes settled on Harry.

He could see the tell-tale signs of anger in her but he just grabbed her hand and took off in the nick of time as Hermione came in the common room like a thunder. She kept calling him but he didn't listen.

As far as people calling him go, there was another furious person calling out to him, the one who he was dragging through the hall.

Better to hear it in one sitting than to have her yell again and again.

Reaching the Seventh floor, he let go of her and started pacing in front of the wall where Room of Requirement was.

"Harry what are you do….?" Ginny trailed off when all of a sudden a large door appeared in front of her.

"Let's go in, then I'll tell you everything."

He grabbed her hand and went inside the door.

The inside was a lush cream in colour with a blue coloured rug. Creamy blue sofas were lying around a large fireplace. Over the fireplace was a portrait of four people.

"This was our drawing room," Harry whispered, a dreamy look on his face.

"Ours?"

"Oh sorry. Let's talk after sitting. It's a long and unbelievable tale."

Curious, Ginny followed Harry to the sofas and sat down.

He stared at her, she stared at him. Her shyness forgotten in lieu of the great curiosity that she was feeling.

"What's happening Harry? How did you change so much? And why are you avoiding Hermione like a plague?" In the end, the dam spilled forth.

On Hermione's name, his face hardened and a mad look came in his eyes, so much so that Ginny started feeling fearful. Seeing her wide eyes, Harry's expression softened and he answered her.

"Because she betrayed me."

"I don't understand."

"Let me tell you from the beginning." Harry sighed and leaned back on the sofa. Truly the Room of Requirement was amazing. The sofa felt the same as it had when he lived in the house with Ginny. It had that same calming effect on him that it did before.

"Harry?" He was broken out of his stupor by Ginny calling out of him.

"Sorry." Harry grinned sheepishly. "Would you like something to eat first?"

Without waiting for an answer he called out. "Dobby!"

He knew that Dobby would be here. The fourth year had already begun and that's when the overexcited elf had started his job at Hogwarts.

With a loud crack, the elf appeared wearing a towel with a Hogwarts crest.

"Young master called for me?" He bowed and then lifted up his head. And that's when he saw Harry sitting there smiling.

"Master Harry Potter sir?" He tilted his head to one side, his large ears drooping. He had begun quite excitedly before his voice trailed off into a question.

"Yes, Dobby it's me."

"It is Master Harry Potter Sir." Dobby bounced up and down excitedly. "How did you know I was here."

Harry just smiled faintly in response. "Dobby we need something to eat."

"Oh, of course, Master Harry Potter Sir." Dobby stopped jumping and nodded enthusiastically.

"Dobby will get you something to eat."

The elf vanished with a crack, much in the same way as he came.

"How do you know that elf?" Her inquisitiveness made her forget about her worries for a moment.

"From the chamber." His words induced silence in the room for a few short moments which he himself broke.

"I cannot say this enough but I am sorry I wasn't there for you after the chamber. I was the only one who had shared your experience in the chamber, even if it was only at the end."

"Harry."

He held up a hand. "You were alone, you had nightmares. Nightmares you didn't tell anyone about. Your situation was so bad that your parents took you to see your favourite brother but that didn't help much either did it?"

Ginny had gone pale in the face.

"Eventually time healed it, the nightmares became less and less through the year but you still get them occasionally. You blame yourself for opening the chamber but there's a part of you that has never forgiven your brothers for discarding you the way they did."

"H-How?"

"How did I know?" The wry smile was back on his face. "Because you told me. Or should I say you will tell me, many years in the future."

"You aren't making much sense Harry."

"I know." Harry acknowledged. "But if I told you just plain and simple that I have come from the future you will not believe me."

"What?"

"When you died, you told me to take all of your memories. I don't know why you did it but now it will come in handy. If you'll allow me."

"Just wait a minute Harry." She threw up her hands. "What the heck are you talking about. First, you go off into such details about my situation and then you start spewing some nonsense which is just…. nonsense."

"Do you trust me?"

Ginny went silent, staring at him, in her eyes the conflict was clear. What Harry was asking of her was simply quite huge, but every instinct in her screamed to trust him.

The staring continued for a few minutes before she finally relented.

"Alright."

Harry grinned and brought out his wand. He muttered a few words and twisted his wrist halfway. Immediately a tendril of white light shot out from his forehead. For a moment, Ginny was scared but there wasn't enough time to react as the light entered her mind an instant later.

An explosion of images, of memories that she hadn't experienced but felt remarkably familiar. It was almost too much. The memories were accompanied by a searing pain in her head. Her head throbbed with agony but the memories didn't stop assaulting her mind.

Years passed by in front of her eyes as her mind adjusted to the inflow of information, learning from the memories and absorbing them. It was as if they weren't just memories but a shadow of the person whom these memories belonged to. A person that she was beginning to realize was her.

As the pain ebbed away, she was able to focus more on the memories. She saw the rise of Voldemort, Sirius' death, their kiss, their marriage and then her death.

But within them were terrible memories, memories that she didn't want to believe. She saw as her family turned towards Voldemort to save themselves and their subsequent murder. She saw herself consoling a broken and distraught Harry as they sat crying.

Most of all, with these memories came clarity, a broadening of her views. Suddenly, she found her worldview altered. An understanding of the terrible way the world worked. The chamber had already shown her much but now she found within her the hardness and firmness that came with years on the run. The shadow had completely imprinted on her personality. She felt like a thirteen-year-old and a twenty-four-year-old simultaneously.

All the while Harry sat a few feet away from her, incessantly chewing his bottom lips. Ginny had shrieked and writhed at the beginning but he couldn't do anything. It broke his heart to see her in such pain but he couldn't take the risk of breaking the memory transfer. It was dangerous enough as it was, the consequences of breaking the spell before it was complete would be dangerous.

They had found it in an old dusty book in the Black Library. A memory implant spell. At first unsure why such a spell existed, they had learned it in the hopes it would help them against Voldemort.

As hours started passing, he closed his eyes and entered into meditation. He was too restless to do anything else. Besides, he still needed to control his magic better.

He imagined a vast ocean, tumultuous and angry. Its waves crashing against the shore on which he stood. He imagined controlling the raucous waves, bending them to his will. He pushed against the might of the ocean with the power of his mind and then pulled. Sometimes he would succeed others, he won't.

By the time he heard Ginny sitting up, he had much better control than when he began over his magic. He opened his eyes, anxious to see that she was alright. Her hair had tousled up and her eyes had become red but otherwise, she looked fine.

"Oh, Harry." She sobbed as soon as she saw him.

Immediately, he was by her side, wrapping his hands around her shoulders and consoling her.

"I-I had no idea that's what you had to go through."

"It's alright," Harry answered, relishing in the feeling of her luxurious red hair and her warmness against him. "I am here so that we don't have to go through that once again."

"My family." She looked up with a despairing look in her eyes. "Did they actually do that?"

His jaw clenched. This was the moment that he dreaded. He didn't want to tell her but he nodded anyway, not wanting to withhold anything from her. He had done enough of that already.

To his surprise, she didn't say anything, only nodded her head and put it back on his shoulder.

"It's strange." She spoke after a few minutes of silence. "On one hand, we have shared so many intimate moments and I can recall each and every single one of them with perfect clarity, on the other I want to blush just because you smiled at me and run away."

"Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah I am fine. It will take a bit of time before she and I become one. We have chosen for the future Ginny to be the dominant personality. She's much better than the younger one."

It was a bit disconcerting hearing her talk like that.

"I am sorry, that you had to go through that. I wish I didn't have to do that."

"No." Ginny sat up. There was still that innocent left in her. "I am glad that you did what you did. I want to be a part of the war. And if this is the way that we can save so many lives that so be it."

Harry smiled and shook his head. "I knew you would answer like that."

"Now shut up and let me rest for a bit. That was bloody tiring." She placed her head back on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"As my lady commands."

They stayed like that for hours until it was time for dinner. At which time, Harry nudged her awake.

As expected, Hermione was waiting for him in the Great Hall quite agitatedly, stabbing her potatoes like they had killed her puppy. Harry looked around the table, but the only spot opened was where they usually sat. With years of sitting on the same table, everyone seemed to have a special place to sit.

"Where have you been?" The questions started firing as soon as they sat down. "I looked for you everywhere. Have you been avoiding me?"

"No Hermione," Ginny spoke quickly, not giving any chance to Harry to respond. She knew what Hermione did to him now and how much it had hurt him. And she also knew that it wasn't the time nor the place to get angry.

"Harry was just telling me something important." It wasn't like she had lied. Harry had told her something important.

"What could be so important?"

"Something Harry had to tell me."

"What?"

"It's private Hermione."

"Oh." She blinked. "Anyway. I have something to ask you, Harry."

Harry just grumbled.

"How did you do all of that?"

"All of what?"

"Those spells. How did you do them?"

"It's a little thing called magic Hermione. You might have seen other people doing it." Harry answered sarcastically.

"Harry." Hermione glared. "I am serious."

"Look Hermione. I owe you no answers. What I do, How I do it? It's none of your concern, so stop fucking butting in." He was practically seething by the end.

Ginny placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, partly to restrain him and partly to silence him. As she turned towards Hermione, she saw tears in the eye of the older girl.

"Sorry." She mumbled and pushed away from the table.

She felt bad for the girl as she saw him rapidly walking away from the table. She was reaping the fruit of the crop that she hadn't sown yet.

"Come on Harry." She patted his shoulder. "Finish your dinner. You'll need the energy."

In the days that passed, the biggest news was of the Tri-Wizard Tournament followed by the rudeness that Harry showed to almost everyone that he met, even his previous best friends. The docile and meek Boy-Who-Lived had everyone puzzled. Such kind of behaviour was audacious from him. But it did have the effect of everyone staying away from him. Everyone except Ginny.

Draco Malfoy had seen this another chance to extend a hand of friendship, thinking that Harry had finally seen the truth of everyone around him. He had found his food turned into horse shit every time he put a morsel in his mouth that afternoon, after being knocked down face first when he tried to talk to Harry. Thankfully no one was around to witness the exchange.

Come weekend, Ginny once again found herself dragged out of the common room.

"Harry!" she shrieked wrenching her hand out of his grasp. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," Harry answered sheepishly. "I got too excited."

"That's all well and good." Ginny crossed her arms. "But you could at least show me the courtesy of telling me where we are going, before dragging me wherever the hell you were going."

"We are going to meet Sirius and Remus," Harry answered quickly. "I asked them to come to Hogsmeade this weekend."

"But wasn't Sirius travelling east? How could he get here so fast?"

"I asked him to give his location to Remus through Hedwig. She's the least susceptible to being intercepted. He took a portkey there and got him to England as fast as he could. He arrived just yesterday, you know."

"Oh."

"Anyway let's go. They are waiting for us in the Shrieking Shack."

Taking the secret passages under Hogwarts, they were in the Shrieking Shack soon. Sirius was pacing around the room looking quite agitated. While Remus sat in a half-broken chair with a small smile on his face watching Sirius pace.

"Harry!" Sirius was onto him as soon as they came out of the passage, grabbing his shoulder and engulfing him in a bear hug. "Are you alright? Your letter said it was urgent. What is it?"

"Sirius." Remus had stood up and calmly pried him off Harry who had started to have difficulty breathing. "Give the boy a few moments to rest. He just got here. Miss Weasley." He nodded towards the girl standing behind him.

"Weasley?" Sirius perked up. "That Weasley boy's sister?"

"Her name's Ginny." Harry offered sitting down on another chair. "She's a good friend of mine."

"Oh?" Sirius nodded. "Well, then what was the urgency?"

"I plan on getting Sirius out."

Sirius chortled at that and Remus couldn't help but smile.

"Harry we all want that but how are you going to accomplish that?"

"I know where Wormtail is."

"What?" Sirius stood up. "Where?"

"He's under a Fidelius Charm right now but I know how to get him out."

"Harry!" It was Ginny who had finally spoken, gently chiding him. "I think it would be better if you told them from the beginning."

"Right." Harry nodded. "I guess it would be easier if I just show you."

He brought out his wand. "Just stay still."

This time, it didn't last as long. It wasn't the same thing either. He just showed them his memories of the crucial things. Only the things that they needed to know. He didn't feel comfortable sharing anything else.

Remus was the first one to snap out of it. He rubbed his eyes trying to make sense of it.

"Harry what was that?"

"The future. Or what was the future, before I came back." He answered simply. "It was Fate who sent me back, to ensure that Voldemort won't take over the world and destroy it. And I intend to do just that but not because Fate wants me to but because I will take my revenge against him."

By now Sirius had also gotten up, a bit dazed from the overflow of information but otherwise sane. He turned towards Harry and blinked.

"What?" quite irritated by Sirius' continued staring, Harry finally asked.

"I was killed by a Half crazed bitch?"

The question was so absurd that he started chuckling, soon Remus and Ginny joined in and the Shrieking Shack was shaking with laughter.

"Might I remind you, Sirius." Ginny wiped the tears from her eyes. "That half-crazed bitch is one of the most feared followers of Tom."

"Tom?"

"That's Voldemort's real name. Tom Riddle." Harry explained.

"That explains it!" Sirius nodded like he had understood some great mystery. "I always wondered what kind of parents named their kid Voldemort."

"You mean to tell me Sirius that you actually believed that Voldemort was his real name?" disbelief was evident in the voice of Remus.

"What?" Sirius shrugged. "How was I supposed to know it wasn't his real name."

"Honestly." Remus just shook his head.

"Sirius' dumbness aside, we need to discuss the matter of taking care of all the wrongs," Harry said with good humour.

"Like me being killed by my crazy cousin." Sirius shook his head. "Nope, that just can't happen."

"It's all well and good that you want to take care of Voldemort Harry." It was Remus who spoke. "But aren't you afraid of changing too much. I think it's an unspoken rule that meddling with time is a very bad idea."

Harry rubbed his head. "Not really, I don't think I simply care enough. You have to believe me Remus, the world that I came from, it was simply a ruin. There was nothing left. Voldemort, he had taken control of everything. All of Europe, Africa, even America was under his influence. When I came back even Asia was falling under him albeit for a few resistances in the East. It was a dark hour, Remus. And it's not something that I want to see again. Anything would only be an improvement from that.

There was a bit of silence following Harry's impassioned statement. All of them sat there contemplating what he had said. Sure they had seen a bit of everything that had happened in the future but only Harry there had witnessed it first-hand. He was the only one who had seen the horror of that world. He was the only one who knew what it felt like living there fighting a losing battle every day.

Remus started rubbing his temple. He could feel a headache coming. It was all just too much to absorb.

"I know it's too much to handle. I have just turned your world upside down." Harry had sensed the unease in the wolf. "We don't need to decide anything today. I just wanted to tell you everything so that I could warn you about certain people. People who are certain to betray us. The only ones we can count on are in this room and a few others that we haven't known yet, but I intend to bring them into the fold as soon as I can. We need to formulate a plan as soon as we can and destroy Voldemort. But soon doesn't mean today. You can take a few days, sit on this information and ponder on it. Whenever you are ready, we'll move forward."

"What?" He once again found Sirius staring at him.

"Never knew you were a leader."

Ginny chuckled. "He's a natural, led us all against Umbridge during the sixth year, formed an illegal student club to fight that toad."

This time, Ginny found herself under scrutiny. "Sorry, still getting used to the memories."

"Ginny's a special case," Harry explained. "I had her own memories from before her death which I passed on to her, so in a way she has returned to the past too."

"That's all well and good, but how are we going to capture Wormtail?" Quite understandably the first concern on Sirius' mind was that of arresting their traitor friend, Peter Pettigrew.

"You have heard about the Tri-Wizard Tournament haven't you?" at their nod he continued. "Voldemort has sent a spy to infiltrate Hogwarts during the Tournament and to ensure his return to his full power. He has regained a body but it isn't quite functional. He hopes that by using my blood not only will he return to full power but also negate the protection that my mother gave me."

"A spy?" Remus asked.

"Barty Crouch Jr," Harry answered. "His dad orchestrated his death to get him out of Azkaban, one of the most fanatic followers of Lord Voldemort. He's also the Secret Keeper of the place where Voldemort is, at least that's what I think."

"Wow." Sirius' eyes had gone wide in disbelief. "Never thought the uptight old Barty would ever break the law like that, even for his own son. He sentenced him to a life in Azkaban himself you know."

Harry nodded. "Dumbledore has appointed Mad-Eye Moody as the new Defence teacher. Barty Crouch is impersonating him."

"Your story gets more and more disbelieving by the second Harry," Sirius said. "Now you are telling us, that somehow Barty Crouch got the jump on the ever paranoid Alastor Moody?"

"It happened." Harry shrugged. "Mad-Eye never told us how it happened, though, guess too much-wounded pride."

"I can imagine that."

"Anyway, I plan to incapacitate the spy and use him to lure Wormtail out."

"How?"

"Leave that to me. I have a plan."

"If you say so Harry," Remus answered glancing out of the window which was stained by the orange light from the setting sun. "You should get going now. It's getting late. People will start wondering where you are soon. We'll think about what you have shown us and get back to you as soon as we can. Right Sirius?"

Sirius nodded. "Till then, take care Harry and you too Ginny."

"Sure will."

"We should get going now, Sirius."

"Where are you planning on going?" Harry asked curiously.

"I have a rented apartment in London," Remus answered. "It's a bit small but it will be able to fit a man and his dog."

"Why don't you use the Black ancestral home?"

The very mention of that house had brought a scowl to Sirius' face.

"I know you don't like it Sirius but given the number of wards that place has, it's probably the safest place for you right now. Remus can go with you."

"I don't know, that place has just too much of my family in it. It isn't a place worth living in."

"Beggars can't be chooser Sirius."

"I guess you are right." Grumbled Sirius. "This isn't a time to be picky where I live. As soon as I get free, though, I intend to spend every Knut in Black Vault to get a better home."

"Yes, yes but for now live in that home. We should add a Fidelius charm to it too."

"None of us are capable enough to cast that charm, Harry." Remus reminded him. "Not even me."

Harry grinned. "But I am. It's not just my memories that returned to my past self. My magic also returned. I'll drop by someday and cast the charm. Remus can be the secret keeper."

"Well, that's all settled then." Sirius clapped his hand. "Let's get to that cheery house of mine."

Saying their goodbyes, The two men disapparated from the ruined building. Ginny and Harry too made their way back, chatting and gossiping about whatever the latest Hogwarts rumour mill was churning out.

When they entered the common room, they found Hermione sitting in a corner doing her homework. Harry didn't spare her a second glance but Ginny noted the way Hermione had sent a look of longing towards Harry.

Reaching the end of stairs, Ginny gave him a small hug. "Good night Harry."

"Goodnight Ginny."

She watched as he disappeared up the stair. She herself was about to go and settle in bed but found Hermione standing in front of her. There was a look of desperation on her face. Her nose was red and her eyes were puffy like she had been crying recently. Her hair also looked a bit more messed up.

"Ginny, can I talk to you?"

She knew what Hermione wanted to talk about. She knew she should find an excuse and get out of here. But she couldn't, instead she let Hermione take her hand and guide her to a couch.

They sat face to face on the two ends of the couch. She found it hard to meet the bushy haired girls' eyes.

"Ginny." Her voice was broken, like someone who had lost everything. "Please tell me what's going on?"

Hermione was literally begging her, pleading with her to tell her.

"Ginny." Her voice sounded a bit more distraught. "Ginny please look at me."

She knew it would be a mistake but she still looked up. There were tears in the older girl's eyes.

"You know I don't have many friends. You, Ron and Harry, you are the only one I can count on. I never had any friends while growing up. I was always the nerd of the class, the stuck up arrogant girl no one liked, everyone ridiculed me but not Harry. Even Ron said mean things to me but Harry never did. I may not look it but I cherished his friendship a lot, you know. I saw him as a brother I never had. But now, now…."

Her voice choked with emotion, she couldn't speak anymore. Furiously she wiped at her eyes. "Now, he won't even talk to me, won't even be in the same room as me. And I don't know what I have done." She once again broke down, bawling her eyes out. "Please, Ginny. Please tell me What did I do wrong? I'll do anything to make it right."

What Ginny saw in front of her was a young girl crying because she had just lost her best friend due to reason unknown. But in her mind, she also saw Harry, broken and wounded, crying on her shoulder like a baby, asking again and again what did he ever do to deserve this.

She couldn't put the girl who had betrayed Harry and this girl crying her eyes out to be the same. They seemed so different, so apart from each other. Yet, she knew they were the same. It was Hermione who had betrayed him in the future.

But it was in the future, a future which was redundant now? Would she still betray Harry given the chance? Ginny asked herself. It didn't seem to her that this girl, so distraught over losing him could ever betray Harry. She simply couldn't fathom that.

But it was a danger, a risk she couldn't take. Her memories also told of a similar Hermione and still she had turned on her best friend. No matter what her heart said she simply couldn't take the chance. She simply couldn't let Harry's heart be broken once again.

"I am sorry Hermione." She knew she will regret it for a long time but this was for the best. "But what you did, Harry will never forgive it. I can't tell you what you did, I can't betray his trust like that but it would be best if you forget that you and he were ever friends."

"W-What?"

"I am sorry Hermione." She could feel tears prickling her eyes. "I am truly Sorry." She couldn't stay here any longer, so she got up and climbed up the stairs as fast as she could.

Falling on her bed, she wiped her eyes. It wouldn't do to waste tears on the matter such as this. She had changed a lot in the last few days, but there were still parts of her that were innocent, that weren't altered by the experience of her future self.

It had been a week since it happened. Since she was changed irrevocably by what Harry had shown her. It seemed like a wild dream to her. The stuff of nightmares, but that's what had happened. The thing that had stood out the most to her were the betrayals. Her family, she couldn't believe it but these were her own memories. Even then, she found it hard to fathom that they were capable of something this vile, that they will turn on one of their own for the survival of others just because they were blood. It went against everything that her parents had taught her. She didn't know what to believe anymore.

Unbeknownst to her, though, Harry had watched the complete exchange between the two girls. Just behind the landing, he had stood and listened to their conversation. He didn't want to but Hermione had starting asking Ginny too soon without making sure he was gone, and when the talk started, he simply couldn't bring himself to move. When he saw Hermione crying like that, he had felt a pang of guilt, that he was the reason that she was crying like that. But it was quickly replaced by anger. She was the same girl who will betray him. He will not let her worm her way into his heart.

He was proud when he heard how Ginny kept his trust. Quietly, he had removed himself from the landing then. He knew it was hard for her. If someone told him that everything he had known for his whole life was a lie, he wouldn't have taken it so well. But Ginny was resilient, she had taken everything in stride and had once again decided to stand by his side. What did he ever do to deserve a girl like this, he didn't know.

They weren't as close as before though, he longed to hold her in her arms, to take long walks hand in hand, to feel those soft lips on his again. But it wouldn't come so soon. He knew her, she didn't know him. Even with the memories, he had to give her time to get to know him again. For now, he was content with her friendship.

Because he knew, no matter what, He and Ginny would be one once again.

…


	2. Chapter 2

Time to put his plan into action had come. It wasn't a terribly complex plan but it had to be well executed if they wanted this to succeed in any way. Mad Eye's paranoia hadn't helped matters any. The man was used to casting spells for half an hour before he would eat anything. Anything he would drink was from his flask, which Harry knew to be Polyjuice.

The plan was simple. Take Moody out of the Equation.

Harry didn't like a duel. There were too many unknown factors with that. His years fighting against Death Eaters had taught him that it was better to take a man out of fight via any mean necessary than to prolong it just to give a fair fight. That notion was absurd to him.

He knew that he could probably easily take care of Mad Eye on his own but he had decided to lay a trap for him. He would ambush him where he was the most relaxed. In his own quarters.

Not an easy plan, considering that he had to dismantle about two dozen wards and several muggle style traps before he could enter the place. He just couldn't hide anywhere either. His Invisibility Cloak was useless owing to the fact that Mad Eye could see through it. So he had to find a place where he could hide and easily target Mad Eye Moody. Once again an impossible task in front of a magical eye which could see through walls.

But everything had a limit and Moody's eye was no exception. So here he was, standing under a dozen or so powerful disillusionment charms, each one of a different variety to hide him from the magical eye. Still, any movement and he would be given away which would result in a long and tedious battle, which he wanted to avoid in the first place. So he was standing with his arm outstretched and his wand in position, waiting for Moody to come in.

He had been standing like that for about an hour, his arm sore from not moving when the door creaked. His body tried to go alert but with great difficulty he stopped any movement. He waited patiently as the door slowly swung open. Every second felt like a century to him.

A tip of a wand.

 _Fucking shit._

He dived away from his position as soon as he saw it, the curse that came still flew uncomfortably close to him. The second one struck his shield which he had conjured as soon as he fell.

"Good work Potter." Mad Eye finally came into view, his wooden leg creaking against the stone floor. He leaned on his stick, his magical eye going mad in its socket. "I had heard good thing about you from the Professors, they said that you were especially good at DADA. I intended to see it for myself this week when we had our first class."

"You dodged admirably." His wand was expertly trained on him and while his magical eyes was looking everywhere his real eye was still watching his every move. "And I must say those disillusionment charms were a real piece. Haven't seen work that good in ages. You ought to have been an Auror."

"And you ought to have been in Azkaban, but we don't always get our wishes do we, Barty?" Harry shot back.

Moody's magical eye whirred and focused on him. "Have you gone mad Potter?"

"It does seem weird when an insane man asks you that."

"What are you talking about?" Moody demanded.

"Still going to deny it? Well Plan A failed so time for Plan B."

Mad Eye whirred around but it was already too late. The stunner was too fast and he fell like a broken doll. Even if he had managed to dodge that somehow, he wouldn't be able to do anything about the other stunner that Harry had thrown on his back.

"Well that wasn't hard at all." Ginny remarked as she came inside the room, throwing away the invisibility cloak.

"Only because of my meticulous planning."

"Right, the planning that didn't include me and probably would have woken up half of the bloody castle."

"Details, details." Harry shrugged binding the stunned convict. "I was still the orchestrator of the original plan."

Ginny just shook his head. "So what now? Just hand him over?"

"Yup." Harry nodded.

"Doesn't make much sense. Wouldn't it be better to impersonate him?" Ginny questioned.

"For that we need to know quite a lot of details about Barty and we don't have the time for that." Harry sat down on a wooden chair. "Trust me, Voldemort wouldn't let his plan go down the drain just like that. He would certainly send another minion and since he is rather short on minions these days, it has to be Wormtail and that's when we strike. It's a good thing that Goblet would only be open for two days."

"All well and good." Ginny too sat down. "But when will those ruddy Aurors get here. I am bloody sleepy."

"Patience my dear." Harry gave her the look of a sage. "All good things come to those who wait."

Ginny blew a raspberry at him but the faint tinge that adorned her cheek didn't go unnoticed by Harry.

 _Might as well enjoy the shyness before she starts making me blush to the roots with her rebuttals._

He remembered quite vividly what the older Ginny would have replied, certainly not something that should be said in front of children but something that would help in creating them.

 _Too painful._

Thankfully, his attention was diverted by the clicking of several boots and a loud voice shrieking. Slowly, he stood up and stretched his arms upwards. He wasn't in any hurry to face that thunderstorm but he did sympathise with those who were weathering it right now.

As soon as he opened the door, his ears were viciously assaulted by a voice so loud that it would be considered an environment hazard, momentarily he had to cover his ears to regain his bearing.

"AUROR SHACKLEBOLT, I WOULD NOT HAVE THIS."

"Ah, Professor." Harry winced as the withering glare from Professor McGonagal fell on him. He could feel Ginny slowly backing away into the darkness.

 _Sly vixen._

"Mr. Potter?" Her eyes were like thin slits and her lips had completely disappeared. "And don't think I haven't seen you, Miss Weasley. What's the meaning of this?"

He would have smirked if he could as Ginny winced and came out as slowly as she could.

"If only you will come inside Professor." He answered. "Everything would be crystal clear."

"Mr. Potter." The Auror that he remembered as Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke. "You reported that a criminal has been caught on Hogwarts ground and yet none of the teachers here know about this?"

"A CRIMINAL?" McGonagall shrieked. "Potter, Explain now!"

"He's inside." Harry glanced inside. "And you have come just in time. I don't know who says that our Aurors are lazy."

"They are thirty-three minutes late, exactly." Ginny murmured under her breath.

"And what would that have accomplished?" Harry asked motioning to other to follow him. "They would have had to wait for half an hour."

"What are you two going on about?" Professor McGonagall demanded.

Harry grinned and spread his arm towards where he had left Mad Eye Moody. "Professor, I give you the late Bartemius Crouch Jr."

The wooden leg came out with a plop, the magical eye flew out of his socket. McGonagall gasped and Aurors drew out their wand.

"Holy Merlin's shitty underpants." One of the Auror swore. "That's Barty Crouch Jr." the next moment he was pasty white under McGonagall's glare.

"Minerva, you called for me?" Just as Harry was wondering where the esteemed head of the school was in this commotion? Dumbledore came in with his trademark twinkling eyes. There wasn't a change even in his posture as he took the stunned body of very much alive Barty Crouch Jr. in."

"Oh my!" Dumbledore murmured. "Minerva please remove the students from here."

"Not yet Headmaster." Kingsley turned towards Dumbledore. "They are key witnesses related to the case so I cannot allow you to take them away without questioning them."

"If you insist." Dumbledore smiled. "But please conduct the interview someplace else. I don't believe the environment is much suitable for the children."

"Alright, headmaster." Kingsley nodded. "You two take him away and make sure he's securely locked. Oh and relay the information to the head of DMLE and the minister. This is an urgent matter."

"Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley right?" at their nod he continued. "We'll take your account at Headmaster office."

"Um, I think Professor McGonagall's office would be better." Ginny interjected. At their raised eyebrows she continued. "It's the shorter route to our Common room and I'm really sleepy."

Kingsley started chuckling and even McGonagall gave a faint smile. "As you wish. It _is_ Two in the morning."

It wasn't a long interrogation. Professor McGonagall wouldn't have let it go for a long time anyway since it was already late. After asking them a few basic question, Kingsley let them go. McGonagall escorted them back to the common and after giving them a stern warning to not wander late at night and to bring such matters to the attention of authorities, she let them go.

It was a good thing that it was a weekend night. They were asleep till late in the morning. When they did wake they found a summons from Headmaster waiting for them, delivered by one of the Prefects. They were to meet him after Lunch in his office.

"Holy Crap!"

They were standing just outside Dumbledore's office and Ginny was just about to give the password to the Gargoyle when Harry suddenly burst out.

"What now Harry?"

"We are meeting Dumbledore!"

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "I think the summons was pretty clear about that part."

"You don't understand." Harry looked at her with wide eyes. "Dumbledore's a master legillimens. I don't know if he uses it on students or not but it would be pretty bad for us if he found out about us."

Ginny gave him an exasperated look. "If you are talking about Occlumency then I have been practicing it."

Harry's mouth fell open. "B-but how?"

"Duh. I have my own memories you idiot!"

"Oh!"

"Can we go now?"

"Ladies first."

"Oh don't try to be a gentleman. You only want to stare at my ass."

The reply was immediately followed by a fierce blush.

 _Good bye my sweet shy Ginny. I am going to miss you!_

"Fine, you can stare at mine!" Harry harrumphed and spoke the password to the Gargoyle. They opened to reveal the spiralling stairway which lead to the Headmaster's office.

"Come in." Like always, they didn't have to knock. As soon as they arrived on the landing, Dumbledore's voice came from inside calling them.

He was sitting behind his large mahogany desk, his face a picture of calmness and serenity that Harry had come to expect from the old Headmaster. His chin rested on his crisscrossed fingers and his eyes, ever twinkling were watching them with a kindness that he could now see through.

It wasn't as much that he had accidently discovered Dumbledore's manipulation. A part of him always knew but when he had found his diary, it was still a large shock. It was a good thing that he was used to such shocks by then, otherwise he didn't know what he would have done. He had considered him a mentor, a guide to always guide him through the obstacle of his life.

But the man that sat in front of him now wasn't a mentor. He didn't concern himself with the life of others. What mattered to him was winning, not the ways through which it was achieved. His regrets were only on the surface. Truth was he never once blinked on the decision of leaving him with the Dursleys. His decision to hold back the Prophecy wasn't because of his childhood but because it would have been a hindrance in his plan to make him a sacrifice.

His eyes weren't kind, they were cruel. His aura wasn't calming, it was manipulating. His face wasn't grandfatherly, it was uglier than Voldemort and more hideous than devil. He was like a spider intent on preying on the innocent flies to feed his image.

What was dangerous though that Dumbledore himself didn't know.

"You called for us, headmaster?" All thing considered, his social skills were lacking. Eight years alone can do that to you, not that he was much social to begin with.

"No need for such haste Mr. Potter." The gentle smile broadened. "You may sit; I assure you I didn't call you here to discipline you. I leave such unpleasant matters to your head of house. I believe she's more than capable of that."

A shiver ran down their spine as they thought of the lecture that they haven't gotten from Professor McGonagall yet.

"I'll try to tone down the punishment a bit." His eyes were twinkling. "Though, Minerva can be quite stubborn in her own way."

"It's alright sir." Harry replied. "We knew she's only concerned about our welfare."

"True." Dumbledore chuckled. "Though I myself am not averse to a little rule breaking here and there. A little adventure is never bad for your health."

There was a slight pause in Dumbledore's speech where he picked up a sweet from a bowl and presented it to them.

"Lemon Drop?"

Harry and Ginny shook their hand.

"On the notes of little matters, what you did last night wasn't such a little one." His expression turned serious. "I have been led to believe that you knew it was a hardened criminal that you were facing?"

At their nod he continued. "As admirable it is that you were able to take him down without incurring any injuries, I still feel duty bound to tell you that you should have brought the matter to the attention of your head of house or contacted me."

"I didn't think we had enough time to contact everyone." Harry replied. "He could have been holding anyone hostage. He was holding the Real Mad Eye hostage. So we only contacted the Aurors. We were monitoring his quarters when he ambushed us, forcing us to take him on. We assure you sir, we had no intention of fighting a Death Eater head on." His reply was rehearsed, the same one that he had given Auror Shacklebolt. A thorough answer which didn't leave any space for doubt.

"Hm." A slight frown could be seen on Dumbledore's face. "How was it that you were able to discern who he really was when, as much as it pains me to admit, he managed to elude all of us considering that Alastor is an old friend of mine?"

"Coincidence really Sir." Harry shrugged. "We simply happened to overheard a conversation while doing some extracurricular activities."

"What was the topic of this conversation?"

"He was talking about some plan." Harry lied without blinking an eye. He hadn't felt Dumbledore entering his mind yet, probably he didn't feel the need to use Legillimency. "But the part that caught our attention was how he was talking about the why they were keeping the Real Mad Eye alive. And the person called him Barty."

"Would you mind elaborating on those extracurricular activities?"

"Um."

"If you feel uncomfortable then it's alright." The twinkling had only increased in Dumbledore's eyes. "I can guess and something tells me I'll be obliged to tell Minerva about it if I knew about it." He gave the two of them a knowing look. "It's just a formality. You may go now and please inform the relevant authorities if you run into a stray criminal next time."

"Except the one that you know about."

Dumbledore chuckled. "You know what I mean Mr. Potter. Have a good day!"

Only when they were safely away from the office did Harry breathe a sigh of relief.

"Well, did you notice anything strange when looking into his eyes?" Harry asked.

Ginny shook her head. "No, not really. It was all pretty standard. Besides, he was looking at you most of the time."

"I don't think he tried to use Legillimency on me."

"Well that's a relief isn't it?" Ginny replied. "I guess he didn't feel the need for it."

"Well first phase of our plan is now complete." Harry smiled at her. "It's time to proceed to the second part."

It was a week after when the other two school arrived with pomp and grandeur. Durmstrang with its hardy looking students and Beuxbatons with its grace. Like he remembered before, the Hall was decked in the colours of the three Schools. The tables were enlarged to accommodate the foreign students. The feast was scrumptious and he managed to overstuff himself despite telling himself to go easy on the food. He sat with Ginny and some of her year mates during the feast.

As far as Ron and Hermione were concerned, they kept shooting him glances. Ron's concerned phase was over and he was already mouthing off to anyone who would listen about how ungrateful Harry was for throwing away his friendship like that. Hermione on the other hand had kept her distance but he had noticed bags under her eyes and when she thought no one was looking she was shooting Ginny some strange looks like she was trying to solve some mystery. He didn't like this at all.

"Hey Ginny!" Harry leaned over the table and whispered her name.

"Hm?" Ginny looked up and gave him a questioning look.

"Have you noticed something strange about Hermione?"

"Hermione?" She shot the older girl a look. "No not really. She had been keeping her distance and I heard she's spending most of her time in her library but that's normal for her isn't it?"

"Well yeah." Harry nodded. "But she keeps looking at you in this strange way which I don't like."

"Me?" She cocked her eyebrow. "Why would she be staring at me?"

Harry just shrugged. He had no answer to that.

"Are you going to eat that?" Just as they were finished talking, they were interrupted by a terribly familiar voice. He turned around to face Fleur Delacour, the girl who had bewitched everyone when she entered the Great Hall. Even now, there was silence all around him. Her Veela allure was at its full swing. Good thing it didn't work on those who were in love.

"Sure." Harry turned back towards his food and kept eating. He could feel a slight harrumph behind him before Fleur took the dish and walked away irritably.

"Show off!"

"Excuse me." Harry leaned back and gave her a look of surprise. "I have no idea what you mean."

"Right." The sarcasm was evident in her voice. "Like I would believe that you purposefully turning your back on a quarter Veela and speaking to her in as much of a cold voice as you could muster wasn't to show your immunity to the Veela charm?"

Harry stared at her innocently. "Like I said I have no idea what you mean."

Their conversation was interrupted by Dumbledore unveiling the Goblet of Fire. The tournament had officially begun.

Afterwards, when they were exiting the Great Hall after the end of Feast Ginny was separated from Harry in the throng of the student. She felt someone forcibly pull her out of the crowd and into a secluded spot a few meters away.

"Hermione?"

She had pulled Ginny away from the crowd but she didn't look particularly friendly. If only looks could kill.

"Hermione what's wrong?" Ginny questioned. She remembered Harry telling her about the looks that Hermione had been shooting her.

"What's wrong?" Hermione laughed. "Funny that you should be asking me that, you whore!"

"Excuse me!" Ginny's eyes narrowed. "It's about Harry isn't it? Well Miss Stuck up let me tell you I had nothing to do with Harry's decision to abandon your sorry ass."

She knew she was a bit harsh but she was famous for her temper and being unjustly called names would be a sure fire way to flare it up.

Hermione's cheeks coloured up a bit. "Don't throw that lame story at me. I have known him for the last three years while you were swooning over him. I know he would never break his friendship like that. You must have used some dark magic over him."

"Dark magic?" Her eyebrows were twitching, a dangerous sign. "You really should know better."

"Why?" It looked like Hermione had lost all grip on rationality. "Just because you played a helpless victim to the diary. You may have deceived all of us for the last three years but now I know all your plots."

"What?" Hermione sounded so absurd that all her anger had evaporated.

"Just stay away from Harry or else I'll tell everyone about you."

"Fuck you!"

The next moment Hermione had flown meters away and collided with a pillar. Her nose had split and bat shaped things were coming out of it.

"Try and come between me and Harry and I'll show you how dangerous I am." Ginny threw the older girl a look of disgust and walked away. She didn't want to believe her memories but this girl had made them seem believable.

She spied Harry sitting in a sofa as soon as she entered the common room. After noticing her, Harry waved to her motioning her to come.

"Where have you been?"

She sat down on the sofa opposite to him. "Hermione cornered me."

"I hope you didn't break too many bones."

"How violent do you think I am?"

Harry's eyes were twinkling with mischief. "With that temper, I don't think I have a scale large enough to measure it."

"You are incorrigible." Ginny sighed. "She only has a split nose. She was mouthing off about how I have used some dark magic to entangle you."

"Oh." Harry gave a mock surprised look. "I pray that she has a good plan to rescue me then. As it is I don't want to be rescued. Must be the effect of that dark ritual of yours."

By the time Harry had finished his sentence, he found himself facing the business end of Ginny's wand.

"Hey, Hey, Hey," Harry threw his hand up. "I was just kidding."

"Well I am deadly serious." Ginny gave him a glare. "And no Sirius joke."

Harry immediately shut his opening mouth.

"How's he doing by the way?"

"Hating his new house." Harry remarked. "But it's necessary. We are going to drop by on the first Hogsmeade weekend and make it safer."

"Sounds like a plan."

There was a companionable silence that followed. After the feast most of the students had retired to their beds, only a few couples and some stray students remained who were scattered all over the darkened common room. As such they were afforded the much needed privacy.

"How was the class with new Moody?" Harry asked after a few second.

"Panicky." Ginny shuddered. "Almost hexed me a couple of time."

After the capture of Barty Crouch, the real Mad Eye was rescued from his own trunk. Strangely the matter hadn't appeared in the newspaper. Harry suspected that Fudge was keeping a tight lid on everything. As for Mad Eye, he had insisted on returning to teaching only after a week despite the better judgement of Madame Pomfrey. The result was student walking on eggshells in the defence class. One wrong move and they might find themselves missing a few limbs.

"You plan on taking part in the TriWizard tournament this time around?" Ginny's voice was wavering a little.

"You know I can take care of myself." Harry gave her a small smile. "Besides I am not planning on participating. Dumbledore may believe in that Prophecy, personally I don't give a shit."

"I am just worried that Wormtail might just be able to slip your name in without us knowing about it."

"You know, our plan's fool proof." Harry consoled her. "He won't be able to escape at all."

"I guess."

"We should get some sleep." Harry suggested. "We won't be getting much for the next two nights."

Ginny nodded and got up. Harry followed her suit. For a moment they kept standing there in front of the cold fireplace staring at each other. Finally, Ginny reached out and gave him a small hug.

"Night Harry." She whispered.

A smile tugged at Harry's lips. This was the first time that Ginny had hugged him since he returned. He placed his cheek atop her flame coloured hair, relishing in their softness and silkiness.

"Goodnight Ginny."

It was all too short in Harry's opinion. When she let him go, her cheeks were tomato red but she still smiled at him, giving him a small wave before disappearing up the girls' dorm.

The next day dawned bright and clear. For Harry it was even better. The last night hug might have had something to do with that. There was a skip in his step and a smile that threw everyone off who were used to seeing a scowl on his face. Not that he cared. He stopped caring about other peoples' opinion ages ago.

That night Pettigrew was a no show. But that was to be expected. The rat wouldn't show itself till the last possible moment.

The trap they had laid for him was a complex one. It was a triggered induced sleeping gas spell. The trigger was an animagus entering the specific area in his animal form. They knew for a fact that the only registered animagus at the Castle was Professor McGonagall. There was no animagus in the new arrival from the two school.

It was highly unlikely that McGonagall would go near the Goblet in her animagus form. Still for added measure they had added an exception to her in the trigger. An extremely complex trap, that had taken them quite a bit of time to prepare. He even had to enlist Remus and Sirius help who were more than happy in helping the capture of their elusive backstabbing friend.

The next night seemed as bleak as before. There was no sign of Pettigrew. Even the Marauder's Map didn't show him anywhere near the Goblet. They almost fell asleep waiting for Pettigrew but finally they had a breakthrough.

"Ginny look!" Harry elbowed the near unconscious Ginny who was half asleep on her feet.

"Hm What?" She blearily looked around from under the cloak which was right now hiding the two of them.

"That's Cedric Diggory not Pettigrew." Ginny mumbled sleepily. "You must be getting sleepy."

"That's not it." Harry said irritably. "His movement looks a bit weird."

Ginny rubbed her eyes and stared at the guy who was walking towards the Goblet of Fire.

It wasn't just his rigid movement that was strange, it was also the fact that he had already put his name in the Goblet amidst a throng of students.

"He has already put his name. What's he doing here?" Ginny asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"What?"

"I said what's he doing here?"

"No, before that. Did you say he has already put his name in the Goblet?"

"Yup." Ginny nodded. "It was all over the castle, didn't you hear."

"Shit." Harry cursed. "Imperius Curse."

This time it was Ginny's turn to be befuddled. "What?"

"Wormtail must be using the Imperius Curse to control him. He must be waiting a safe distance away."

"What now then?" Ginny asked worriedly. "We can't let him put your name in the Goblet."

"Fortunately, we have the Marauder's Map." Harry grinned. "We can find out where he is. Our search area was too small the last time that's why we couldn't detect Wormtail."

"What about him?" Ginny motioned towards Cedric.

Without answering Harry twisted his wand and the seventh year Hufflepuff crumpled on the floor.

"He's just passed out." He answered Ginny's unasked question.

The rest of the work was easy. In a few minutes they had found Pettigrew hiding in a secret passage way and had taken the unsuspecting rat into custody.

Aurors were once again called, McGonagall once again lectured them and Dumbledore gave them another summon. But none of it changed the fact that they had captured Wormtail and Sirius would soon be free.

The next day dawned even brighter. The snoring was like music to his ears and he almost hummed in the shower.

Sitting on the breakfast eating the food with a gusto that wasn't even seen on the feast, he watched as the morning mail flew in. In them were owls carrying todays' newspaper.

"So What's in today's newspaper?" Harry eyed the newspaper that Ginny had deftly nicked after it was dropped in front of him by an owl.

But Ginny didn't answer. Her eyes were rapidly scanning the front page. Her face was contorting in with every line that she read and there were definite signs of anger.

Alarmed, Harry asked again, "Ginny what is it?"

"You aren't going to like it." She threw the paper in front of him and answered flatly. "It's official now. I hate the media."

"What could be so bad?" With a cocked eyebrow he picked up the paper. The Headline was enough to send him in a frenzy.

 _Pettigrew the True Criminal or another Victim of Sirius Black?_

The article went in great fetial, twisting the facts, romanticising the escape of Pettigrew into the Weasley house to save himself from Sirius and how, he, Harry Potter, who was possibly under the influence of Sirius Black due to his contact with Remus Lupin, an old friend of Sirius Black and a werewolf.

"How the hell did they get the story out so fast?" Ginny asked with frustration. "Aren't newspaper finalised around midnight or so?"

"It isn't how they got the story that's bothering me." He folded the paper and placed it down. He looked to be in deep thought. "Who influenced them to write this piece and what could they get from writing it?"

"At least it isn't Rita Skeeter." Ginny commented.

"Nahh, she doesn't have anything against me yet. Though it would have made sense if it was her. Such stories seem to be her cup of tea."

"One of his pals maybe?"

They looked at each other and started laughing.

"Seriously, who could it be?" Ginny wiped the tears streaming down her face and asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea."

Next day, Harry had an even furious start to the day. There was an exclusive interview with Pettigrew published. He was claiming innocence to the charge of murder of murder of Lilly and James Potter and blowing up the street. He did admit that he was a death eater but only for spying.

The paper was explicit in posing Sirius Black as the bad guy quoting Pettigrew's early life about how he was borderline bullied by his three friends.

It even mentioned the incident where Sirius led Snape to the Shrieking Shack on the full moon, but the tale was spun in such a way that it seemed like a deliberate attack on Snape's life.

Severus Snape had also commented on the situation calling Sirius arrogant, Pig headed and a man with no brains capable of foulest deed known to mankind.

Harry turned page after page but the only thing on news seemed to be Pettigrew and Sirius.

"You know I was just thinking something." Ginny said after he had finished reading the paper.

Harry was leaning on the bench rubbing his temple with his eyes closed.

"What Ginny?"

"Maybe Fudge is behind all this?" She suggested. "He was involved in the original hearing and it would look bad on him if it came out that the Ministry had punished an innocent man.

"Hm." Harry frowned. "That's possible. He is a shallow person but I don't think he had the guts to do something like this. He might survive the Sirius fiasco but if it came out that he knowingly tried to punish an innocent man just for saving his own skin then he would be finished. He might even get thrown in Azkaban."

"If not Fudge then who?"

"It had to be someone who is ruthless and has something to gain from either Pettigrew's release or Sirius' imprisonment."

Ginny stared at him helplessly. "No one come to my mind."

"Mine neither." Harry sighed.

"On a happier note." Ginny spoke in a perky voice. "They are announcing the Champions tonight. It should be good not seeing your name in there."

"I have learned not to count my chickens before they are hatched Ginny." He answered. "I won't be breathing a sigh of relief till all three names have come out of the darned Goblet and it has been put away for good."

And right he was in not celebrating too soon, for as it was the tournament had a fourth champion and by luck, it was him again.

After whispering to Ginny not to worry he walked towards the small door where the other champions were waiting for him. Entering the room, he was subjected to intense stares for all around. Not the least bothered by them, he leaned against the wall opposite to the door and waited for Dumbledore to enter.

"What are you doing here? This is no place for little boys."

Harry sighed. Fleur just had to open her mouth.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, will you stop your blabbering for once." The answer was effective. Fleur was shocked into silence and the room had gotten so quiet that Harry was sure he could hear the non-existent wind.

It wasn't that the French girl couldn't come up with a retort. She was shocked because she wasn't used to such complete rejection from the member of opposite sex.

Thankfully, the stifling silence was over when Dumbledore and McGonagall entered the room.

"Mr. Potter." He waved the thin piece of paper. "Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

Harry sighed. "Could I have?"

"Wait just a minute." It was Ludo Bagman who interrupted them. "What do you mean by that?"

Dumbledore stared at Harry from atop his half-moon glasses. "It seems like we have a fourth champion."

The room immediately burst into noise in much the same way that he remembered. Something never change.

What was different though, was that he could feel someone's intense stare burning into his side, turning he found Fleur hastily turning her gaze.

 _What fuck did I just do?_

Shrugging, he leaned back against the wall and stared at the adults bickering like children arguing about the most nonsensical things.

It took them about thirty minutes but the noise came to an acceptable level.

"Then it is final, Mr. Potter would be participating in the Tri Wizard Tournament." Dumbledore announced, his eyes landing on every single person in the room.

"Who said I would be participating?" His voice wasn't loud but the declaration was such that everyone fell silent.

Once again he found himself subjected to intense stares.

"It's a magically binding contract." Percy spoke authoritatively. He was here as an immediate replacement to Barty Crouch who was arrested soon after his son. "You don't have a choice."

"Percy." His voice was venomously sweet. "Do you want to me tell Penelope why you have doll with a hole?"

Percy went white as a sheet, his eyes bulging out of their socket. Sweat was rolling down like rivulets from his face.

"I thought as much." Harry nodded. "Like I was saying, I am not participating in the fucking Tournament."

"Mr. Potter." Dumbledore spoke calmly. "Mr. Weasley has a point. Once your name comes out of the Goblet, you have to compete, otherwise you will be stripped of your magic."

"Not my problem." Harry said unconcernedly. "I didn't put my name in the Goblet. I sure as hell am not taking part in a Tournament just because a Psycho put my name in.

"Right attitude Potter." Moody growled. "I smell a trap here Albus."

"Well you are the authorities here and I was told repeatedly to leave such matters to the authorities." He winked at Professor McGonagall who pursed her lips. "So I'll just remove myself here. Have a good time figuring out how to bypass a binding contract."

"Pray tell me Potter." He hadn't seen Severus Snape there. "Why would we waste precious tome pandering to the whims of an egotistical brat and not just watch in delight as magic leaves from your tortured body?"

"Oh you know why, Snivellus." Harry got into the face of the hated Professor. "It's the same reason you told the world why you stopped being a death eater."

He gave a glance towards the old headmaster who was for once so utterly shocked that his mouth was hanging open like a gaping fish.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, he made a beeline for the door.

"You are not a little boy." He heard Fleur's breathy voice as he passed her by. "You are a real man."

 _Oh boy!_

Escaping from one interrogation, he walked into another one. It would be harder to get out of this once.

"How did your name end up in the Goblet?" Ginny demanded as soon as they sat down in the Room of Requirement.

Harry shrugged his shoulder. He had no idea.

"You aren't trying to show off again, are you?"

"Giving a Veela a cold shoulder in public is one thing, Ginny." Harry replied. "Intentionally putting myself in mortal danger another. I find myself in enough danger without trying to look for it."

"Then how?" She was literally pulling her hair out.

"It doesn't matter. I have no intention of competing."

Ginny's eyes bugged out of their sockets. "What?"

"I said…."

"I heard you the first time." Ginny cut him off. Have you left your mind in the future? It's a magically binding contract. You'll be a squib if you break it."

"I don't think fate has any plans regarding me losing my magic."

Ginny stared at him for a full minute. Harry was beginning to worry she had been petrified when she finally spoke.

"I don't know what's more reckless. "Intentionally breaking a magical contract or toying with Fates."

Harry was about to answer but Ginny held up her hand.

"No smart ass comebacks Potter." She growled.

Schooled, Harry just meekly nodded.

The first Hogsmeade weekend wasn't far away now but before Harry had something else to deal with. A Veela.

The day after the Chamions' selection, she had made her way towards his sitting place during breakfast.

"Can I sit here?" She motioned towards the empty lot on the side.

Harry squirmed and glanced towards Ginny who was calmly eating her toast. Way too calmly in his opinion. His sixth sense was telling him that something bad will happen if he allowed her to sit next to him. Thankfully, he was looking at the solution already.

"You can sit next to Ginny. " He kept his face down and kept eating his food. Better remain on the good side of Ginny.

"But I want to sit here." She insisted.

"Sit there or find someplace else." He said firmly.

Fleur stood there for a few minutes before she sat down next to Ginny with a huff.

"Hi." Ginny turned towards the elder girl and chirped. "I am Ginny, Harry's girlfriend."

Harry almost choked on the morsel. When did they reach that leve?"

"I am Fleur." He threw back her golden blonde hair and regarded with a cold look. "Harry has no need for little girls like you especially now that he has better option.

He always did hate that part of Fleur. He was about to reprimand her but Ginny shot him a look telling him to remain silent.

"Better option?" The smile on her face made Harry shudder. "Since when is a screeching bird a better option?"

Fleur's eyes became ablaze with fury. "How dare you?"

Harry could feel a headache coming. He better put an end to this before it could escalate any further.

"Enough you two." Harry said. "I didn't leave those two just to be caught in the bickering between you."

Ginny looked chagrined and Fleur confused.

"As for you Fleur." Harry turned towards the blonde beauty. "You'd better discard any ideas that you have about me. I am not interested in you remotely. I only love Ginny and on one else."

"Oh!" Fleur said softly. "I didn't.." She looked at Ginny ashamedly. "I am sorry."

Ginny's expressions softened. He could see companionship in her eyes. "It's alright."

"I'd better go then." She pushed back from the table. "Sorry for disturbing you."

Ginny grabbed her hand and forcefully made her sit down. "Come one spend a few minutes with us."

Fleur smiled at the younger girl. "If you want me to."

Since then his life had become a nightmare between two giggling girls.

Actually no, that was just Harry's imagination working overtime. Fleur rarely did spend any time with them. And when she was there, she was vying for Harry's attention. Surprisingly, Ginny didn't mind a bit. She would play along but only to rile Harry up.

When he asked Ginny about it. He received a horrifying answer cum threat.

"Oh I know you love your bits Harry. Don't want them to suddenly disappear do you."

There was also the small matter of there being rumours that he and Fleur were an item but he never did care much about those kind of things.

When Hogsmeade weekend arrived, he and Ginny apparated to the ancestral Black home. It was even more dingy and evil looking than he remembered. Guess Molly Weasley's slave driven cleaning did pay off in some way.

"Come to the kitchen." Sirius said after the pleasantries had been concluded. "That's the only place my ruddy house elf has kept marginally clean."

They made their way to kitchen where Kreacher was making some food that might just be for humans. As for Remus, he was sitting in a chair leisurely drinking a cup of tea.

"Hello Harry, Ginny." Remus greeted them as they took their sears on the kitchen table.

Harry and Ginny greeted him back.

"You are here to cast the Fidelius charm? Sirius asked.

"That and to discuss the recent articles in Prophet." Harry said. "Prophet is hell bent on throwing you back into Azkaban irrespective of your guilt or innocence."

"Me and Sirius were discussing who could be behind those articles." Remus added. "We thought it could be Cornelius Fudge."

"I think we need to discuss something else before that." Ginny interrupted. "The Tri Wizard Tournament."

"What about it?" Remus leaned forward with interest.

"Harry's name came out of the Goblet."

"But wasn't there an age limit as to who could enter?" Sirius looked towards Remus for confirmation who nodded.

"Someone confounded the Goblet into choosing four champions." Ginny answered. "And Harry' has the bright idea of breaking the magical contract just because fate send him back in time."

"Well, what do you want to do? Take part in it?" Harry protested.

"Something tells me it would be less dangerous." Ginny shot back.

"What's you plan if you do lose your magic?" It was Remus who asked.

Harry stared at him blankly. Admittedly, he hadn't thought that far.

"Well it's final then isn't it?" Sirius announced. "Harry's taking part in the tournament."

"Oh come on." Harry groaned. "It's such a pain in the ass."

"If Dumbledore comes up with a way to bypass the contract then it's fine." Ginny interjected. "Otherwise you are taking part in it."

"Only if Dumbledore begs me for it." Declared Harry.

"Good.: Ginny nodded. "Now onto the next item on the agenda."

"How do we know that it's actually Fudge who's behind these article."

At that Harry perked up. "I have an idea. I wasn't planning on bringing her in yet but she be much valuable to us now."

"Who?" Sirius asked.

"Nymphadora Tonks."

"Tonks? That name sounds familiar.

"Andromeda Tonks Sirus." Remus sighed. "Your cousin."

"Might be." Sirius shrugged. "Every pureblood's my cousin in a way."

"Really Sirius.: Remus was smiling slightly. "Then why wee you sulking for a week when she didn't you about the birth of her daughter."

"I wasn't sulking." Sirius huffed. "I just had a lot on my mind."

"Like your cousin not telling you about her daughter?"

"Fine!" Sirius conceded. "Alright, she hates my gut but a letter would have been nice. We two were the only sane members of the family. I thought that meant something."

"Now, Now Sirius." The mischievous twinkle had increased in Remus' eyes. "You can cry, we all adult here. We understand."

"Screw you moony.'

"Now we all appreciate good humour here." Harry interrupted. "But it's about time to get serious again. Sirius is already getting a media trial and popular opinion is against him. And I believe the person who is behind this can also influence Wizengamot so it would be in our faovourto weed out this person as soon as we can and neutralize him."

All there nodded their heads in agreement.

"For that purpose, we going to enlist the help of Sirius' cousin who's also an Auror and a metamorphmagus to boast."

"I guess I'll be the one to contact her since you two are in school and the last member of this group is a convicted criminal."

"Right Remus." Harry nodded. "You can convince her and if there are any doubts then I'll clear them up. She's going to be a valuable ally for us."

"No wonder." Sirius whistled. "A metamorphmagus. She'll be perfect for espionage and tracking this bastard down."

Harry smiled. Somethings are better if they are found out on their own.

"I guess I better go and cast that Fidelius charm." Harry stood up. "It's going to take a long time to set it up."

It was a good day that Harry spent with Remus and Sirius, formulating strategies for the upcoming trial which was yet to be announced.

They didn't have to wait for long. The very next day, Daily Prophet announced that the trial of Peter Pettigrew will be public and held before the full Wizengamot. If someone thought that the case wasn't important then that notion was removed now.

As it was, there were other things on Harry's mind. Something really strange had occurred during today's Transfiguration class.

"You will never guess what happened today."

Ginny who was busy examining the Quidditch league table critically in the Daily Prophet, Harpies had dropped to fifth after narrowly losing to Wasps, answered absent mindedly.

"Hermione failed a test?"

When Harry didn't answer, she slowly looked up from the paper.

"You must be joking."

"Nope."

"Is she dying?"

"Don't think so."

"Someone must be posing as her then." Ginny declared, dropping the paper. "She would never fail a test."

"I am just worried that she might be planning something against us." Harry frowned.

"Not even that could come between her and studies." Ginny replied and stole a glance at Hermione sitting far away, all alone. She and her brother had a huge fight just a few days ago.

She looked haggard. Her fingernails were unkempt and her hair messy. She never paid much attention to make up and such but she was always clean.

Her eyes narrowed and she stared at the older girl closely. And she was in that condition despite a dozen or so glamour charms. Her lessons with Harry had paid off. He had told that she was a natural at detecting magic and it seemed to be true.

"There isn't much we can do except keep an eye on her." Ginny sighed. "And hope she doesn't do something foolish."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Fortunately, or unfortunately their attention was soon diverted away from Hermione. Dumbledore had summoned Harry to his office.

It was an hour long session in which Dumbledore kept asking him about his answer to Snape but he refused to explain. The other topic was Harry's participation in the Tri Wizard Tournament.

"So how did it go?"

"Made the old man beg on his knees." Harry gloated.

"Good for your ego." Ginny answered. "Now tell me the truth."

"After much grovelling an begging, I reluctantly agreed to take part in the tournament."

"Truth Harry." Ginny accentuated every syllable.

"That's the truth." Harry protested.

'Fine but you are taking part in the tournament?"

"Yes, yes I am."

By the time, the first task rolled out, Pettigrew's Trial was into its third hearing. There was a deadlock because Wizengamot refused to administer Veritaserum or the basis that it was not merited. The fact that Sirius hadn't turned himself in was being used against him. Sirius' testimony at the previous trial wasn't helping either. If this kept up, Harry feared Wormtail might get away with a slap on the wrist.

Remus had tried to contact Tonks, but being a member of staff deficient squad, her schedule was hectic. She was nearly never found in the ministry.

Last week though, Remus had succeeded in tracking down the pink-haired woman and convinced her to hear them out. They were going to meet her after the first task.

As for the tournament itself, Harry wasn't the least bit worried. Even sitting in the champion tent, he wasn't feeling nervous. He had to wonder where this confidence of his was coming from. Maybe because he had already completed these tasks?

Nor that any of the other champions looked worried. But that was because they were too busy ogling the magnificent beauty of a seventeen year old Veela who had wrapped herself around Harry. Her blue form fitting, skin tight suit left little to imagination. He made a mental note to aske her to give a similar suit to Ginny.

The lots were drawn and Harry once again found himself facing a Hungarian Horntail.

Cedric and Krum performed as they had before. Fleur performed a bit better but that was because he had told her as soon as the tournament started what the first task was. Be that as it may, she certainly didn't deserve the score that she received.

 _Old Perverts."_

The horntail wasn't as difficult as he remembered but maybe that was because he was much stronger and his aim more accurate.

Incapacitating a dragon, a feat which should have taken a dozen dragon handlers should have earned him a perfect score but Karkaroff still gave him an eight. His reason, the spells were too dangerous and could have killed the dragon.

It was the celebratory hug that he received from Ginny that he enjoyed most. His hand had about managed to grab her gorgeous bottom but just a moment before he received a spectacular knee to his groin.

"Ginny!" whined Harry. "You are damaging your future husband."

"Well he should keep his hand under control." Ginny replied sweetly.

"I can't help it." His eyes were still glued to where they shouldn't be. "I deserve a congratulatory grope at least." He gave her his best puppy dog eyes.

"You can grope mind Harry." He winced as Fleur walked in, gracefully flicking her hair behind.

Ginny snickered. "There you go, your problem's solved."

"But only if Ginny wants it." She gave the younger girl a look of admiration.

He didn't know what magic Ginny used on the Veela but she was completely submissive to her, almost like a slave. She was stubborn to him sometimes, but Ginny, she listened to her without question."

"Aww." Ginny cooed patting the elder girl's cheek. "So sweet of you."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Remus and Tonks.

It didn't take long to enlist Tonks help. She slready knew that Pettigrew was given unfair treatment, which only confirmed their suspicion.

As Ginny engaged in a conversation with the older girl, the two had hit off almost immediately, Harry sidled up to Fleur.

"Ahem." Harry cleared his throat. "About the suit that you are wearing."

Days passed after the first task in November. After his defeat of the dragon students began to revere him more. The trial kept on going without moving forward and even after seven hearings neither them nor Remus Lupin, the people closest to the case had been asked to testify before Wizengamot. It was worrisome.

The wait didn't last much longer. The letter arrived on a Sunday, asking them to appear before court in the next hearing.

Dumbledore has arranged for them to be directly flooed into the level of ministry where the hearing was taking place so that they could get in and out of the ministry with minimal fuss.

Despite being called, they weren't asked to testify, only observing the proceeding of the trials from the benches.

Remus had also accompanied them to the court. The trial lasted only half an hour with the back and forth bickering of the two lawyers.

"William Joe Root." Remus whispered pointing to the lawyer of Pettigrew. "He is one of the best criminal Attorneys. How can Pettigrew afford him, I have no idea."

Pettigrew was there too trying to put on a brave face but cowering all the time nonetheless. Every time, the prosecutor will start to speak, his face will go pasty white and it would look like he could faint at any moment.

"He's the reason Veritaserum hasn't been used yet. He has shot down every argument." Remus added. "And it seems he might be able to get Wormtail with the minimal punishment and without Sirius' exoneration."

"A very worrisome situation." Harry noted. "We better get to the person pulling the strings."

"Sirius not turning himself in has also hurt his case." Remus continued. "He's continuously raising this point as proof of Sirius' guilt.

Harry sighed. "We had agreed that Sirius won't be turning himself in till whoever is behind this is neutralized."

"I know." Remus assured.

In the end, the problems just kept increasing. Tonks had no leads on who could possibly be pulling the strings behind the scene and the case was fast slipping out of their hands.

If that wasn't enough, someone had attacked Ginny from behind when she was in a deserted corridor. Thankfully, she was with Fleur and didn't sustain any major injuries.

Harry had his suspicions about who could be behind the attack. It was a long shot and he had many enemies but considering the recent patterns, there could be no one else.

Hiding under the invisibility cloak, he followed Hermione as she left late at night. Through many twists and turns and through more than a few stairs she reached an unused classroom.

Inside the classroom was a person who Harry never expected her to meet. Draco Malfoy.

"Where is it?" She demanded.

"Calm down." Sneered the blonde ferret. "I don't have any wish to endure you any longer than I have to but you have messed up."

"Fleur Delacour was there." Hermione scoffed. "I didn't realize she would be there."

"And they call you the smartest witch of our age." Draco shook his head. "More like the stupidest bitch of our age. How can you mess up a little ambush?"

"Run your mouth on your cronies, Malfoy." She retorted. "I am not here to trade insult with you. Just hand me the books already."

"Fine." He spat. Reaching inside the desk near him and brought out a brown paper bag.

"here." He shoved it into her hand. "Try better time or else." There was a mocking sneer. "We might just start targeting your precious potter."

"Yeah, Yeah." She nodded distracted bringing out a brown leather book. Looking at the title, his blood ran cold.

The very next day, Ginny was discharged from the hospital. Her injuries weren't serious and Madame Pomfrey had only kept her overnight to be sure.

While eating breakfast, they were approached by the redhead in Harry's year, Susan Bones. She gave him a dazzling smile and sat down beside him.

"Hey!" She greeted, more like gushed. "How have you been?"

"Um, good?" Her behaviour had caught him off guard and his answer came out in the form of a question.

"Will you meet me after dinner tonight?" She placed her hand on his and leaned closer.

"Why?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"I have a message for you from my aunt." She whispered. "And I'll prefer it if you are alone." She patted his hand. "I better get going now." She had leaned so close that her breath could be felt on his ear.

He watched her go, wondering what was all that about, when he heard Ginny.

"What was that bitch whispering in your ear that she to practically lick your ear."

He gave her a look. "She had a message from her aunt that she wants to relay to me alone."

"Aunt? Is it about Pettigrew?" Ginny asked, her demeanour completely changed from a moment ago.

"Has to be." Harry answered thoughtfully. "But she could have relayed it through Dumbledore I smell something here."

"Well you are not going anywhere without me." Ginny declared and after a moment added. "And Fleur."

So it was that Harry, Ginny and Fleur found themselves in an unused classroom where Susan had indicated to meet her.

The door opened and she entered wearing a long coat. She stopped for a moment and stared at Ginny and Fleur who were sitting in the far corner.

"I told you to be alone." She hissed.

Harry waved at her dismissively. "They aren't a problem just tell me what the message is."

"You sure you don't want to be sweeter to me." Her tone changed to a mischievous one as she started taking off her coat.

"Why?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I am being rude at all."

"Well I am carrying an important message that could help in deciding the fate of Peter Pettigrew." She took off the coat and threw it on the desk revealing a provocative blouse and a skirt which could never be allowed at Hogwarts.

 _I know what I am getting Ginny for Christmas._

"You like it?" she leaned forward emphasizing her impressive chest, the biggest in their year according to some source that would remain anonymous, as she noticed Harry staring.

"Yes." Harry nodded distractedly. "That's a lovely dress."

Pleased with herself she thrust out her breasts a bit more.

"Well what's that message now?" Harry demanded.

"My aunt can get Veritaserum to be administered to Pettigrew." She leaned back crossing her toned legs.

"Hm." Harry frowned. "And what does she want in return?"

"She said that Fudge won't survive the scandal and there will be a new minister soon."

"She wants my supports for her run." Harry concluded.

Susan nodded, resetting her blouse. "She already as a good support but with your voice in her favour she would be assured of victory."

Harry shrugged his shoulder. "If that's all that she wants then I guess I am up for it. She can't possibly be worse than Fudge."

"Not like that." She shook her head and stood up, walking closer to Harry. She placed her right index finger on his chest. "She needs to be sure that you will give her your support."

"Harry will never go back on his word." Ginny's voice came from the back. She casually walked up to the two of them with Fleur trailing behind her. "You can tell that to your aunt."

"There's another way she can be sure of your support." She winked suggestively before picking up her coat. "I'll hope for a positive response."

Her walk out was as distracting as her clothes.

"What are you looking at?" Ginny rounded on Harry.

"Just wondering where did she get those clothes."

"What?"

"I think Amelia Bones might be behind this whole fiasco." Ginny answered, glaring at the shut door. "Her message just as we are at the end of rope signify that and her motive is as clear as day now. Strange though, Dad always said she was a just woman."

"And I thought your Dad was an upstanding man," muttered Harry.

Ginny heard him but she pretended not to.

"All of this a ploy to further one's political ambition." Harry sighed. "If she's behind this she can be sure that he career would come to a screeching halt."

"I'll ask Tonks to focus on Amelia Bones." Ginny suggested. "I am sure she's behind this.

"Aren't you a bit too fired up." Harry teased.

Ginny flicked her hair and huffed, oddly reminiscent to Fleur. "I can't let that slut get her claws into you."

Harry grabbed her around her waist and pulled her towards himself, eliciting a squeal from her. "And why's that?" he nuzzled her hair.

She squirmed in his and turned around blushing faintly. "Because you are mine." She whispered shyly.

"Well you haven't laid claim to your territory yet." He leaned closed nearly brushing his lips against her."

Ginny gasped, a passionate fire smouldering in her eyes. She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him in. There was a pause as they stared at each other, old memories coming to the surface before their lips locked in a heated kiss.

The kiss took him by surprise., it certainly was different than the first kiss he remembered but no less pleasing. His hand came up threading into the silky red hair of Ginny, deepening the kiss and pulling her closer. They were practically moulded together, their hands caressing each other. The kiss had turned into a series of small kisses accentuated by their warm breaths and throaty moans.

Before the things could escalate any further into the territory which would embarrass any person with a bit of shame, Fleur tapped Ginny's shoulder, breaking them apart.

"What?" Ginny was flushed from head to toe and her eyes were red.

Fleur didn't look any different. Her eyes were a bit crossed, her breathing shallow and she seemed to be a bit wobbly.

"Should I go out?" Her voice was hoarse.

"No need," Ginny sighed, straightening her hair. She tried to move away but Harry tightened his grip.

"Stay like this please." He breather in her heavenly scent and placed a kiss on her exposed neck. "I haven't held you like this in so long."

Ginny moaned tilting her head further, giving him easier access to her neck. She could feel his arousal on her back and it excited her. She knew she should be slowing down, she wasn't old enough. But she wasn't exactly thirteen.

Fleur's breathing seemed to be coming in short gasps. She was rocking on her her heels, moaning slowly.

Finally, Harry stopped his kissing and sat on a desk pulling Ginny in and just placing his chin on top of her head. They looked like they had run a marathon. Fleur who had collapsed on a chair didn't look any better.

"We better send that letter to Tonks soon." Ginny reminded.

It took Tonks a week to pull out indirect contact between the defence and Amelia. She had covered her tracks well but Tonks had been trained by moody, despite her clumsiness. It was a small evidence but enough to prove that Amelia was behind this whole fiasco.

But they still needed her help in freeing Sirius, so a clever plan was devised as suggested by Ginny.

Harry met Amelia Bones on a weekend promising her his support. As a sign of proof, he signed a contract to marry her niece, Susan, after Amelia has been elected as Minister and both of them turned sixteen and Sirius had been freed from all wrongdoings.

When Fleur asked Ginny how were going to deciver Amelia. Her answer was simple.

"It's in the woring." She explained. "It's a betrothal putting the date of marriage after she had become minister but what if she never becomes minister?"

"Harry won't have to marry Susan." Fleur nodded.

The day before the next hearing, Sirius turned himself in to the authorities. He was placed in a solitary cell with explicit orders to not given any access to him even if it's the Minister himself.

On the day of hearing he was produced before the court. Not only that, Harry, Ginny and Remus were also asked to testify. They were cautious, giving as short and concise of an answer as they could so that the defence won't have anything to work with.

On the turn of Sirius, he asked to be administered Veritaserum.

"That's not necessary." The defence lawyer spoke. "His recorded confession is available and I believe that's enough."

Harry frowned. He thought Amelia had told the lawyer not to press the case anymore. He could see a subtle glare directed from her towards the lawyer.

"That was under extreme stress." Amelia noted. "Confessions under such state of mind is not admissible. Moreover, as per laws passed in 1850, A person has a right to ask for Veritaserum if there' he believes there's no other way to prove his innocence."

The Veritaserum was administered and much to the shock of the world, he claimed innocence and blamed Pettigrew, even though the defence tried to twist his question in a way that would make Sirius look guilty.

Following Sirius statement, Wizengamot ordered the administration of Veritaserum to Pettigrew. He fought and nearly wet himself but in the end truth came out.

When it came to Sirius exoneration, it was unanimous with Pettigrew barely getting a life sentence in Azkaban.

When the Wizengamot was about to disbanded, Minister Fudge stood up.

"Please members of Wizengamot sit down. The matter is not yet resolved."

"What is left now?" Grumbled one of the old men. "I have other matters to attend to."

"I don't believe Sirius black should be let go." Fudge stated. "I believe he has spent too much time in Azkaban, in the company of convicted criminal to be allowed to be integrated in society.

"One minister." Amelia corrected her monocle. "He looks perfectly sane to me as attested by the healers on his check-up when he turned himself in. Second you want us to punish him for a mistake that you made, when it should be you thrown in Azkaban for hastening the trial and resulting in the imprisonment of an innocent man?"

"Now, Now Madame Bones." Fudge had gone pale. "It was Bartemius Crouch who did that."

"You certainly didn't step up to help him and stand for the law."

"What do you want us to do Minister." A balding man said. "Throw an innocent man in Azkaban?"

"Lord Dresmond." Amelia stared at the man incredulously. "Surely you are not considering this?"

"Minister Fudge raises a valid point Madame." He said haughtily. "Azkaban is a dangerous place. Exposure to dementors and criminals of that level cannot be without effect. We cannot let our guilt blind us into making another mistake."

"This is preposterous." Another man stood up. "We cannot confine an innocent man just on hearsay. Let the healers decide."

"Lord Blackwood." Cornelius Fudge spoke quickly. "If only you will hear my proposal. I believe he should be monitored and outside interaction be regulated, till the healers can be sure of his sanity."

The room broke out in whispers. The noise level reached a new high in the trial room.

"Let's put the motion to a vote." Fudge declared hastily. "All those in favour?"

He looked around the room and nodded. "All opposed?" Once again hands were raised in the court. A few moments after the minister was handed a sheet and colour returned to his face.

"25-24. The decision has been made. Sirius Black will be confined to his house till ministry appointed healers have cleared him. The court is adjourned. Let the date be recorded as the conclusion go the Trial of Pettigrew and Sirius Black."

It looked like their problems were far from over.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well there you go people. The Last chapter as promised. With this we wrap around all the loose end (or atleast those that I can find). Really thankful to all those people who took time out to read the story. You people made the story better than it was. Now I'll get out of your way before you start thinking of murdering me...**

"What the heck was that?" Sirius kicked the sofa, next moment he was hopping in the room, cursing and sweating against the ministry.

Harry watched Sirius hobble, sitting in a sofa right across from him. They were in a rented home in the residential area of Hogsmeade. Sirius had been transferred there from his cell after the trial. Harry had apparated right into the house since Remus was the only one allowed to visit Sirius. Good thing the guards were more concerned with keeping people in than keeping them out.

Harry couldn't bring himself to calm Sirius down. The trial had gone haywire. Sirius was still technically a prisoner though Wormtail had been punished. For Fudge to come up with such a thing was mind boggling.

Though what he gained from that? Harry had no idea. Wizengamot had already called for emergency session and the rumour was that minister would be deposed with the election held on New Year.

His mind was still stuck on what had happened in the court room. They were outfoxed, Harry had to admit but the question remained, what did that person, whoever he was, had to gain from confining Sirius.

Finally, Sirius sat down after half an hour of ranting. He looked at Harry and asked.

"How's the contract?"

"At least that's going our way." Harry sighed. "Susan Bones is running after Draco Malfoy now."

Ginny snickered. "I had to say that's one fitting match."

Harry made a painful face. "One that I don't want to see."

"Well since Amelia can't force her into marriage against her will, that matter is settled. As a non-signatory of the contract, she won't be affected in any way. All she has to do is show her refusal to marry Harry and the contract would be permanently broken.

"Which love potion did you give her?" Sirius asked.

"Amortentia." Harry replied. "She won't be seeing anything but Draco for a month. Dobby already had two more doses for next two months just to be on the safe side."

"Things you can go when you have an obsessively loyal elf." Ginny commented. "Not that I am not happy." She snuggled closer to him.

"Ahem!" Sirius cleared his throat, visibly distraught by their intimacy. "So what will we do about my situation?"

"Make a politician out of you."

Sirius blinked. "What?"

"Not a politician per se." Harry frowned. "I guess puppeteer would be a better word."

"What are you talking about?" Sirius demanded.

"What do you think about bribing people to get your way?"

"Well I used to hate it." Sirius had a thoughtful look on his face. "But if it could have kept me out of Azkaban,I wouldn't be up bribing a few people."

"That's the spirit!" Harry clapped. "Now you're going to convince Remus like that."

"Wait What?" Sirius eyes went as wide as saucers. "I am not putting my head in that dragon's mouth."

Harry nodded vigorously. "Yes you are. Bribery is going to be the extreme you know. We are just going to sway people into the right path by laying out the truth in front of them in a way that it seems beneficial to them. If that doesn't work, then maybe open their eyes with a bit of clinking gold."

"That's devious Harry."

"I almost went into Slytherin you know." Harry smirked. "Of course I have a few evil genes?"

Sirius kept up the questioning. "So how's your plan going to help us." Sirius asked.

"Who are the likely front runners in the elections?"

"It's still early but Rufus Scrimgeour and Amelia Bones."

"Yup." Harry nodded. "Rufus can be easily influenced. He'll help us in signing a document of your release."

"But through Remus, is that alright?" Sirius asked with concern. "There aren't many supporters of werewolves."

"They are politicians Sirius." Harry rolled his eyes. "They'll fuck a goat in public if it means it'll further their ambitions a bit."

"Ew." Ginny made a disgusting face. "Now I can't get that picture out of my head."

"Don't worry." Harry leaned close and whispered. "I'll make sure to put it out of your head once we return to Hogwarts."

Harry had whispered but not low enough for Sirius. He groaned. "Where's Mooney?"

Harry snickered. "Probably trying to do the same thing we are."

"But with whom?"

"We better get going now." Harry stood up helping Ginny on her feet. "It's getting late and we have to go to Hogsmeade too."

"Don't forget you have to buy me robes." Ginny added stretching her hands.

Harry feigned innocence. "What robes?"

"Oh no." She poked his chest with her fingers. "You are getting me new robes whether you like it or not."

"But why?" Harry mock whined.

"Yule ball, duh." Ginny glared at him. "For which you have the privilege of taking me as your date."

"Really?" Harry gave her a crest fallen look. "I was thinking of taking Fleur."

Ginny widened her eyes. "Ooh, I guess someone else can show me a good time." She winked. "I am sure there are many who would like to have a go at me." She couldn't be more suggestive.

"Like hell will I let anyone else touch you." Harry growled grabbing her and pulling her closer.

Ginny gave him a playful smile. "Possessive aren't we?"

"Fuck yes!" Harry moved to claim her cherry red lips but Ginny placed a finger on his lips.

"My robes?"

"Delivered and waiting for you on your bed."

"Good!" Ginny gave him a hungry look. "Let's get out of here."

Instantly Harry apparated them away. In their zeal they hadn't even noticed Sirius had walked up to a wall and started banging his head against it.

The problem with Sirius was about solved. Main purpose was to clear Sirius' name which had been completed. Now, he could focus completely on eliminating Voldemort. He hadn't done shit in this matter. Even the horcrux in Hogwarts was lying somewhere hidden.

He had eight years and then some to figure out what could it be. Ravenclaw's diadem. He just could never enter Hogwarts and on the few occasion he did, he never had the time to search the gigantic castle like now.

Still, he had decided to forgo the hunt of horcruxes for now. Even Slytherin's locket, that he knew to be in Kreacher's possession, wasn't destroyed. He'll start the horcrux hunt in earnest after the new year. Till then, he would prepare to procure the Ring from Gaunt's house and remove the soul fragment from his scar.

Removing the fragment was the easier of the two tasks. It wasn't technically a horcrux so he didn't need to bathe himself in basilisk venom or set himself on fiendfyre. Besides, he and Ginny had found a potion to forcibly exorcise poltergeists that had worked perfectly for him before.

But before all that he had a more dreaded task. A task in front of which he would gladly choose duelling Voldemort to death. Yule ball.

Why hadn't this many girls asked him before? Harry had wondered. It would have certainly made his life easier in the previous life. From Seventh Year to the first year even, scores of girls had asked him out, despite there being rumours that he was going out with Ginny or Fleur.

When he had spilled his worries in front of the two girls, Ginny had started giggling while Fleur had explained to him slowly like she was talking to a child.

"It's your aloof attitude Harry." Fleur had said. "Girls love that. And it doesn't hurt that you have grown so much."

She had gone glassy eyed.

"Really?" Harry quirked an eyebrow. "I don't think I have grown any taller." He gave himself a once over but nothing seemed out of ordinary. He had noticed that Ginny had shot up a couple of inches and her curves had filled out nicely. But nothing such about himself.

Looking closer though, he could definitely see some improvements. Not really a body of Greek God but better than what he had when he was fourteen.

"Didn't notice that."

"That's because you were too busy staring somewhere else." Her fingers were pointing towards her chest area which had shown the most marked improvement in Harry's opinion. They were beginning to rival Susan Bones'. Just the thought made his mouth water.

"And rightly so." He wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth while trying to look sagely. "One always looks at the scenery more attractive."

"Pervert." Ginny muttered.

"But mine are bigger than hers." Fleur cupped her chest and stared enviously at Ginny. "You don't look at mine."

And that's when Harry had tuned out the conversation.

It was still an enigma to him how he had warmed up to Fleur in no time. She was a part of those who stabbed him in the back. Maybe, it was because how different she had behaved around him, or maybe because he didn't know her as well as Ron and Hermione or Molly and Arthur or Fred and George. Those hurt, Fleur not so much. Maybe, he could accept Bill and Charlie too. It's not like he didn't understand why they did it. They were just protecting their family. He knew Ginny would be relieved to hear that.

A few days after operation "Puppet minister", as dubbed by Sirius, had started, Remus had thrown his weight around along with money, funded by Harry and Sirius, and had gotten the permission of ministry to do an interview with Daily Prophet.

But before that, they had made sure that Prophet would publish whatever they were told. A few well-placed coins and threat of Aurors looking into the shady business of Daily Prophet, made more potent by an Auror delivering it, had ensure that. The matter that Aurors didn't have any kind of jurisdiction in investigating corrupt journalist was negligible.

Tonks enjoyed her role policing the media, so much so that sometimes Remus had to step in to ward off some of the more imaginative threats.

Sirius' interview came out and Amelia Bones political career went under. Sirius had given a full account of what Amelia had concocted in regards to the Pettigrew trial. The reporter publishing the stories was also apprehended and confessed to coercion and receiving money to publish such stories. The links were weak but they could definitely be traced back to Amelia. The coins they paid ensured that the case wasn't just left behind and forgotten.

Mildly put, Ministry of Magic had reached a state of crisis. In the span of few days, two of their highest ranking officials had been convicted of corruption and abuse of power. Everything was going according to plan.

Rufus Scrimgeour had been contacted and an agreement reached to help watch each other's backs. Harry would help to make him minister and he would lift Sirius' house arrest as a sign of goodwill.

Such political manoeuvring would have disgusted him once but now he only felt indifference. Truly, War changes people.

The love potion he had given Susan Bones had an unintended effect. When asked for her view on a marriage between her and the Boy-Who-Lived, she had replied that she only loved Draco Malfoy and would never dream of anyone else.

"That one was close." Ginny gave a sigh of relief after reading Susan's interview. "It's a miracle no one saw the effects of Love Potion."

"Amortentia isn't just any Love Potion." Harry explained. "First off, its banned and no one sells it in Britain, not even the fabled Knockturn Alley. Second off, it's really hard to brew. I'd wager only Slughorn and Snape can make it. Third, it's the potion which induces the feeling closest to actual love so it's impossible to detect.

"If it's so hard to make then how did you get it? Your potion skills aren't that good." Ginny asked. "And Snape would certainly not make it for you even under the Imperius Curse."

"My Potion skills maybe are terrible." Harry conceded. "But my Apparation skills are good enough for apparating to another country. After that it's just the matter of plucking the right flower and having contacts."

"Well and good." Ginny nodded. "But what happens when the potion wears off?"

"We'll be done long before that." Harry answered. "And even if she tells someone they won't believe it."

A very enlightening conversation for Ginny came to an abrupt halt when Fleur decided to barge in with a face like she had seen something disgusting.

"Boys never stop, those idiots." Fleur muttered but it was clear that it was something they were meant to hear.

"What happened?" Ginny asked sympathetically.

"Some guy names Rozer asked me to go to the Yule ball with him." Fleur huffed. "Like I'll ever go with that snot nosed kid."

"Rozer?"

"I think she means Roger Davies." Ginny corrected and turned her attention back to Fleur. "Who do you want to go with?"

She gave Harry a look and then looked down. "You know who and you are taking him as your date."

"Excuse me!" Harry said incredulously. "She's taking me? She wouldn't be allowed if it wasn't for me _taking her._

"Hush Harry grownups are talking."

Harry's mouth moved but no sound came out of it.

"Now Fleur." She began sympathetically. "You know Harry can't have two date?" What began as consolation ended in a question mark which sent alarm bells ringing in his head.

Harry shook his head fervently but Ginny already had that devilish look.

"I think I have the perfect solution for our problem."

Mortification. Certainly not the feeling that he thought he would experience attending the Yule Ball, especially when he had mastered the basics of dancing. But he could understand Ginny's sort of prank who was keeping a straight face admirably while chatting with Fleur as they waited for the hall to open.

She looked stunning in the white gown she wore. It set off her red hair in an admirable way and hugged her curves in the right place.

While Ginny looked stunning, Fleur was regal. There was an air of importance around her like she was royalty. Her light golden dress that went to her and flew out also looked gorgeous.

He had thought Professor McGonagal would come to him demanding why had two girls on his am but she had only pursed her lips and returned to her work.

It seemed like an eternity before the doors to the Great Hall were opened. The Champions were inducted amidst thunderous applause but when it came to their turn the clapping slowly died out and everyone started staring at them. But the silence only lasted for a moment and then the hall broke out in whistles and catcalls. If clapping was thunderous before it was positively ear deafening at that moment.

It was a shame that Champions had to open the dance, hence the first dance was for Harry and Fleur. Just as the song was dying, other people joined them and Fleur left Harry to take a drink, meanwhile Ginny joined him in his arms.

"Enjoying yourself?" There was a twinkle in her eyes.

"Now, yeah." Harry placed his head against her shoulder and sighed. He didn't like dancing but if there was someone who made it bearable it was Ginny.

But that wasn't the reason he had sighed or placed his head on the only shoulder he had vowed to trust. Everything that he has been doing and everything that he will do, hunting Voldemort, freeing Sirius and deceiving everyone, it felt like such a weight on his shoulders suddenly and for once the proud selfless Harry Potter couldn't bear it alone.

He blamed the light atmosphere, the romantic aura that surrounded them and the feeling of light heartedness that emanated from people around him. He wanted to throw away his shackles, every single worry that he has been carrying, and just scream, scream till his throat was raw and his heart light as a feather.

He felt the cool hands of Ginny slowly pat his head and the headache that was building was replaced by a soothing feeling, one that only she could induce.

"I will always be by your side. You only need to look."

Harry closed his eyes and let those whispered words wash over himself. These were the same words she had said when he had lost everything.

They slowly rocked to the rhythm of the music, gliding around like a cloud was carrying them. Even after Harry had lifted his head, all he could see was the deep brown colour of Ginny's eyes, the love of his life.

Wherever they danced, People had an irresistible urge to move out of their way. They stopped their own dancing, their attention riveted on the loveable couple moving through the dance floor. To their eyes, they were glowing. Their movement was regal and they looked larger than life.

Only once the dance had ended did harry and Ginny noticed the hush around them. Their faces were flushed with emotions as they looked around trying to figure out why they were alone on the dance floor.

Slowly, the stupor was broken by the sound of clapping. It started out slow and then panned out engulfing the whole dance floor.

They looked at each other, shrugged and bowed before the approving crowd. People once again came on the floor.

"May I borrow your date for this dance?" Fleur gave him a dazzling smile and whisked Ginny away from his arms.

He keenly felt her loss in his arms but a part of him was glad that he hadn't had to dance again. His throat was parched.

That's how they spent the night, alternating between each other. Ginny danced with her brothers and Fleur danced with some of her admirers and friends. Many girls also tried to ask him out and much to Harry's chagrin even some guys, though he made it clear in no uncertain terms that he was straight and hated dancing.

After an hour or two, Ginny sat down beside him. He offered her a punch which she took gratefully.

"How was Michael Corner?" Harry asked offhandedly. Ginny had just danced with him.

"Oh really amazing." Ginny said starry eyed. "Especially his hands roaming all over my…"

"Don't." Harry growled pulling her in by her arm. "Finish that sentence."

"Or what?" Her breath was warm as it tickled his ear.

He gave her a smouldering look. "You want to find out."

Ginny gulped and nodded. Harry grabbed her hand. "let's get out of here."

They found a nice secluded spot and cast a few privacy charms against nosey singles still obsessing over dead people.

After spending an hour doing things that no teenager their age should do but keep on doing because they can't control their hormones, they lay side by side breathing heavily. It was a clear night and uncountable stars were simmering overhead looking ever so lovely.

"Why?" Harry asked suddenly.

Ginny turned towards him. "Hm?"

"Why are you so comfortable with Fleur's crush on me? Aren't you Jealous."

Ginny turned around and laid down on her stomach. Her eyes were fixed on the handsome face of her boyfriend who was staring straight into the starry sky.

She traced his cheek with her finger. "Actually no." She admitted. "I know you have eyes only for me and the way you told her that, like it was the most obvious fact to you, really drove the point home."

"She knows that." Ginny continued. "But she's enjoying her time with you. Maybe she will fall for Bill again, who knows."

"Maybe she will." Harry reasoned, though it didn't look like a likely outcome to him.

After snogging a bit more, they cleaned up and returned to the hall. The ball was in last stages and people were starting to leave.

They danced a bit more and then retired to their beds, bidding each other farewell with hugs and kisses.

Though Harry didn't have that much of smooth sailing. Returning to his dormitory, he found all the Weasley brothers whom he hadn't talked much with this term, sitting on his bed, wearing scowls that would make Severus Snape proud.

As it was, it only made Harry irritated. "That's my bed." He pointed out unnecessarily. "Get off I'm really tired."

"We will dear Harry dear boy."

"But first we have something to discuss."

"Indeed brother mine. We cannot help but notice that you took our little sister."

His patience runt out, he drew out his wand, petrified all three of them in an instant and threw them out of the dorm, including Ron.

Changing into his nightclothes, he finally fell on his soft bed and sighed. The next moment he was sound asleep.

There was still a week or so left, till the next term started, some students had chosen to return home and others mingled with delegation that had arrived from the two schools.

The hot topic, now that the yule ball had passed was the election of the new minister. Now that Amelia Bones was being investigated on the charges of Abuse of Authority, Rufus Scrimgeour was in clear lead with many prominent leaders already allying with the minister to be.

Sirius had also given a couple more interviews to turn the sympathy of People towards Rufus. The previous articles had done a lot of damage. But a favourable verdict and these interview, shining light on the true events had gone a long way in dispelling these notions, thought he wouldn't be running for minister anytime soon.

As a former convict, wronged by the people in power, his opinion held a lot of weight anf they used it to turn tides in the favour of Scrimgeour by subtly dropping hints in his favour. Not subtle enough that an average man reading the article won't get the meaning.

"Our purpose is to control the ministry from the shadows like Lucius does." Harry had said in a full meeting which included Remus and Tonks. "Just stopping Voldemort's return won't do much good if people carrying his ideology are still in power."

On the note of dealing with Voldemort, Harry had completed his preparation to retrieve the ring. He didn't want to take Ginny but she wouldn't listen hto him and in the end he had to bring her.

He was utterly exhausted dismantling the infinite number of wards around the shack. Ginny found some creative ways to disable some of the more stubborn wards.

After dismantling the wards, he double checked to make sure everything was safe. It never hurt to be paranoid when dealing with paranoid people.

The shack was run down, cobwebs littered the ceiling and there was a layer of dust inches deep. The wooden floor creaked under their weight and at some places even broke down.

"Disgusting." Ginny scrunched up her nose at the smell that was wafting through the room.

"We'll be out of here soon." Harry consoled her. "The ring. Let's see it should be somewhere around here."

He tapped the wooden floor boards underneath which the ring was supposed to be present.

"Better be careful." Harry placed a hand on the floor board. "There's poison gas inside it."

Unexpectedly, the floorboard gave way under his weight and he stumbled. If it wasn't for Ginny's quick interruption he would been dead by now.

"Better be careful." Ginny imitated his voice after cancelling the bubble head charm once all the poison had left through the window. "Why don't you tell that to yourself."

"Sorry!" Harry grinned and turning his attention to the velvety cushion on which the ring lay. He embraced himself for the pull, to fight against the temptation of using the resurrection stone.

Nothing.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a hand reaching out to grab the ring.

"Ginny no." he reflexively pushed his hand away. "The ring is cursed."

"Huh?" Her eyes were glazed over before she snapped back to reality.

Harry immediately threw a piece of cloth over the ring and picked it up, pocketing the ring afterwards.

"let's get out of here."

"Yeah." She looked unsettled by her reaction to the ring.

The ring was acquired and tucked away safely under heavy warding. He planned on destroying the horcruxes at the same time so as not to alert Voldemort.

The name of Regulus Black was enough to mellow down the old house elf. Giving the ring to him for protection had also gone a long way earning his trust and he had enthusiastically taken to protecting the ring.

At the end of term, election was held for the new minister. As expected Rufus Scrimgeour came out on top.

The very next day, paper for Sirius release were signed. Rufus even went on public claiming that he thought it wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for the wrongs of previous ministry. He asserted that his rule would be different.

With Sirius' freedom, one obstacle was out of Harry's way. They could now even reach Bellatrix' Vault with Sirius claim as her cousin since she was in prison for life time. The Goblin showed quite a bit of resistance but in the end had to relent and allowed him access to the Lestrange Vault.

With three out seven horcruxes in his possession, Harry thought it about time to destroy the unwitting one in his head.

The one who would perform the spell, rather a ritual, was Ginny.

"It's alright." Harry assured the nervous looking girl. She was standing inside an intricately carved circle. Its runes were already glowing blue, perhaps reacting to the concentrated amount of magic in the Room of Requirement.

Ginny nodded slightly. Her knuckles were white from gripping the wand too tightly. If anything would go wrong, No, she shook her head, she didn't have time to be entertaining such thoughts.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. Her sweat glands were in overdrive and she looked like she had just taken a bath.

"Just tell me when you are ready." Harry's voice echoed in the silent room.

Ginny took another deep breath and raised her wand with determination. "I am ready."

Harry nodded looking at her and braced himself.

She had memories of performing the spell and knew it won't be easy. She exhaled and momentarily closed her eyes.

She twisted her wrist clockwise and the first word of the long spell escaped her lips. She flourished her wand and spoke the second word. As soon as the word was spoken, one of the four large runes written at the four sides of the circle erupted in green fire.

She brought her wand back and repeated the motion till all four runes were on fire. Once the fires had been lit, Ginny twirled around the fire in front of her, blue in colour, followed her, then came green, then red and finally yellow, they crisscrossed and then arranged themselves in a halo around Ginny.

It was a beautiful scene. Ginny's melodious voice was chanting slowly and the fire changed its tempo with the pitch. It would flare brightly when she will speak harshly and would to mere sparks when she whispered.

As Ginny came near the end, the fires merged into one, dancing in tune in the form of one singular orb. It changed its colour from Red, green, blue, yellow and the cycle repeated itself. But as it went, its speed increased till the colour change was only a blur and it had merged into one.

In that instant, Ginny snapped her eyes open and bashed her wand forward. The orb flew at lightning speed and collided with his scar.

Harry bit his tongue to keep himself from screaming. The pain was cruciatus curse amplified a thousand times. It was like someone tearing the skin glued together forcibly. Like someone pulling at flesh that wouldn't let go of the bone.

He writhed in agony, trying to control himself. After an eternity, the pain started subsiding till it was only a dull throbbing ache.

That's when Harry noticed the warm really comfy pillow he was lying on. Opening his eyes, he saw Ginny giving him a watery smile.

"I hope you don't have to go through something like that again." She whispered through her tears and leaned down to kiss him with all her passion.

He could feel her love flowing into him through their connected lips. It made him feel comfortable and warm.

Once they had been dislodged from each other's faces. Harry gave her an impish smile. "If it means receiving something like that, I'll gladly go through it again."

Ginny punched him in the shoulder and huffed. "Prat."

The only one that remained out of his grasp was Nagini and Ravenclaw's diadem.

"It's here in Hogwarts." Harry was pacing around the room. "But I have no idea where."

"Relax!" Ginny said soothingly. "We still have sometime before Voldemort makes a move."

"Which is good." Harry answered. "But I want to take care of this headache before I take care of those traitors."

There was a moment's silence. "What are you going to do to them?"

Harry shrugged. "I'll figure something out."

"I have an idea. "Ginny suddenly sat up. "Why don't you ask Remus? He might be of some help. He and Sirius made the Marauder's Map. They might know a bit about the Castle."

"Huh. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you are an idiot."

"What?" Harry was indignant.

"Anyways." Ginny completely ignored him. "How are you going to tackle the second task?"

"Gillyweed. Worked last time."

"Where are you ordering it from?"

"Order?" Harry looked at her like she was mad. "Why would I order it?"

Ginny's eyes widened. "Oh no. Not that."

"Uhuh." Harry smirked. "Why would I order it when I have acces to it right here."

Ginny clapped her hand excitedly. "That's going to be awesome. Let's add a few more details to it and by that I mean some pranks." She winked at him.

"You are devious." Harry grinned.

And just like that time flew. They didn't have much to do except study and prepare for the Second Task which wasn't much hence they the free time to help Fleur who might have some probles with the Grindylows in the lake. It also helped to foster their friendship with the French girl.

By the time one week remained in the task they decided to put their plans in action.

They had determined that Snape kept the Valuable ingredients in his quarters which also served as a part-time storage room. It was going to be harder infiltrating the Teacher's Quarters but anything was possibly with Invisibilty Cloak and the Marauder's Map.

They chose a day when Snape had gone out of the castle on an errand and wouldn't return till the next day.

In the dead of night when the only one prowling the many corridors of Hogwarts was Mr. Filch, his cat and some students looking for a tryst, they set out from their Common Room. Using the Marauder's Map as their guide they successfully evaded the threats and reached Snape's quarters. As the head of house, his room was just a bit away from the Slytherin Common Room in the dungeon, placed in such a way that it would invisible unless you were specifically looking for it.

Harry knew Snape to be an accomplished wizard and also a man who had a lot to hide. So he cast the most complex detection charm. To his surprise the door glowed only once, indicating there was only one spell cast on it. But it was a peculiar colour.

"Had to be one of his personal inventions." Ginny whispered.

Harry nodded distractedly, concentrating on his next spell. It was a bit more advanced and specific. This time, the door showed many runes and crisscrossing lines.

The spell Harry had cast was used to detect the fundamentals of wards. Something necessary to disable or modify it.

He set to work, twisting his wand here and there. It wasn't easy. The ward was an alarm cum trigger. It would trigger some nasty spell knowing Snape and send a silent alarm probably to him.

"Is it done?" Ginny whispered anxiously, staring at the map. "Filch's coming here."

Sweat was running from his brow. He shook his head but increased his speed.

"He is in the next corridor." Ginny supplied. Her eyes were glued to the map.

Harry concentrated, the ward was just too complex.

"He's about to round the corner." Warned Ginny.

"Done." Harry spoke as the door briefly glowed. "Let's go." He grabbed the knob and turned it, half expecting a trap that somehow escaped him. Thankfully nothing happened and they entered the room just as Filch came into sight.

"Wow." Ginny whistled as she took in the room. "Didn't know Hogwarts gave this good of a service."

The room was lavishly furnished and decked in a light green colour, Certainly Snape liked his comfort.

There was a large cauldron on one side behind a glass wall. There was a fire going on underneath it meaning some potion s brewing in it. There was large mahogany desk on one side with a black leather bound chair that looked really comfy.

There were a few sofas decked in the same shiny black colour that adorned the chair. On the die was an empty mug and a book.

Harry scanned the room and his eyes fell on a wooden cupboard right alongside the glass wall.

Ginny was busy checking out the various things in the room, so Harry left her to her own musing and approached the cupboard.

It seemed to be made of highest quality wood and had a gloss to it that only newly crafted furniture had.

He opened the cupboard to reveal several glass jars with numerous animals stuffed in them.

There were stuffed bats, stuffed toads, he thought some of them might just be alive. In the top shelf though were leaves and some stems. Searching through them Harry found a jar containing a bit of gillyweed.

He was about to put some in his pocket after taking it out in a bottle when Ginny called out to him.

"Harry!"

She was holding a jar and staring transfixed straight ahead at something. Following her eyesight, he saw a door which wasn't there before.

"A secret rom? Harry quirked an eyebrow. "Doesn't surprise me at all."

"Check it out?" Ginny said mischievously.

"Are you kidding me?' Exclaimed Harry. "Of course let's check it out."

"What are we waiting for then?"

Harry cast a few charms to make sure there weren't any taps. Surprisingly there were none.

Harry heaved a large breath, placed his hand on the door knob and said:

"Let's go."

The door opened to reveal a similar room, though it was parted by curtains in the middle.

Curiosity got the better of them and they lifted the curtains. What lay beyond was a bed with black silk covers and right in the middle of the large bed lay a woman wearing a red gown.

The red hair formed a halo around her face which seemed to be glistening with some cream. She didn't seem to be breathing, remaining still as a rock.

Harry crept closer to take a better look. Almost instantly he felt he shouldn't. He stumbled backwards.

"Harry!" Ginny was beside him her hand on his back supporting him.

His face had gone white, his breath was coming in short gasps, his chest felt like it could explode at any moment.

Ginny was beset by curiosity. Who could it be that would make Harry react like that?" She got up and turned around.

 _Fucking Merlin._

It was Lily Potter.

Shock, Paralysis, Numbness, nothing could define her state of mind at that moment. She felt like the sky had fallen on her or the Earth had opened up and she was falling in an infinite abyss.

She winked, rubbed her eyes, slapped herself. Anything to make the vision go away but she was still there, looking very much alive but dead.

She turned to look at Harry who was still on the floor shaking slightly.

 _Get a grip Ginny._

She shook off the shock with sheer force of will. She and Harry, they needed answers and they won't be getting them in here.

She took a deep breath and thought of her happiest memory. It was her first time casting a patronus but she had to succeed.

It was strange. They say traumatic events alter your Patronus. She had gone through many with Harry but her Patronus hadn't changed.

She watched as a dense white light erupted from the tip of her wand and condensed to form the same beautiful horse.

The horse bowed his head.

She entrusted it with a message to come to Hogwarts as soon as he could and that it was an emergency. The horse neighed and disappeared.

With that she turned her attention towards Harry.

"Come on Harry, let's get out here."

Harry nodded slowly and got up. His movement was a bit mechanical.

Ginny tried to levitate the body of Lily Potter but Harry stopped her.

"No." His voice was hollow. "I'll do it."

Harry levitated the body of his mother slowly, almost as if he was afraid he would damage it.

Their progress was gradual, Harry was extremely careful, taking one step at a time. Ginny was behind him, watching him like a hawk ready to help him at a moment's notice.

Right outside the door, they encountered Filch who seemed to be prowling around the corner.

"Aha." He said gleefully, not noticing the levitating corpse. "Students at mischief. That too in Teacher's quarter. You are getting expelled."

Harry gave him a powerful glare. "Move!"

Filch began to reply but next moment he had slammed into a wall. His eyes bugged out, his legs and arms flailed wildly.

"Harry No!" Ginny shook him. "He had nothing to do with this. We must hurry."

Without breaking his gaze from the body, Harry nodded and lowered his outstretched arm cancelling the spell on Filch. He fell down and took a lung full of air. Mrs. Norris was nowhere in sight.

Ginny saw the old caretaker cowering in fear as they passed him by, continuing their journey forward.

It took them half an hour to reach the gate. Sirius was already there, pacing briskly outside the gate. Sensing the urgency, the doors opened on their own.

Sirius had noticed their approached and was already looking at the floating body. His eyes showed dread as they came near.

A few feet from him, Harry slowly lowered the body. Sirius rushed forwards and then stopped in his track, falling on his knees.

"Lily!" he looked at them with shock and disbelief. "Why's she here?"

Seeing as how Harry was incapable of answer, Ginny replied. "We found her in a secret room in Snape's quarters."

The shock turned to anger and a very real growl emanated from his throat. "Snivellus. I'll fucking kill that bastard. What was he doing with her body?

"Sirius focus." Ginny's tone brooked no argument. "You must get her back to your place." She hesitated. "Call Tonks, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Damn hell I am calling her." Sirius barked. "That bastard's going down for desecrating her like that."

"What's going on here." Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore had come to the entrance. "Mr. Filch told us you attacked him."

They turned around and in doing so revealed the corpse.

Professor McGonagall gave a loud gasp.

"What's the meaning of this? How did her body reach here?"

We found her." Ginny's tone was cold. "In Professor Snape's room." She spat his name out.

"Oh my!" Dumbledore muttered, there was no twinkling. "You must hand over the body, this is a serious matter.

"NO!" Harry was silent till now but now his voice rocked the whole castle.

His wand was in his hand emitting sparks. "No one will touch her.'

"Harry, you must…"

The sentence was cut off as Dumbledore barely dodged a powerful looking spell.

"Sirius take her and go!"

Sirius nodded and gently picked up the body. Stepping out of the boundary, he immediately disappeared.

"Mr. Potter!" Dumbledore voiced his disapproval. "That is highly wrong of you."

"What? Reclaiming my mother's body?" Harry taunted him. "Let me tell you what's wrong." He slowly made his way towards Dumbledore. "The fact that one of your teacher dug up a fucking grave, took out a body and has been keeping it in the castle for merlin knows how long and you had no idea it was happening right under that fucking crooked nose of yours." He had gotten nose to nose with the greatest wizard of his age, staring him dead in the eye. "And tell that Snivellus if I ever saw him again, I'll fucking murder him."

He sidestepped a shocked looking Dumbledore and gave a glance towards Professor McGonagall.

"Come on Ginny let's go.

Ginny nodded and followed Harry barely sparing a glance towards the petrified Professor.

The scandal would have been huge, but Dumbledore kept the matter out of paper. Harry was sorely tempted to tarnish the old man's reputation but he couldn't do that to his dead mother.

Snape was put on probation and removed from the castle. What galled him though was that he couldn't be arrested. There was simply no law against grave digging or stealing a body or anything pertaining to the dead.

Tonks had contacted a healer, who would examine the body to see what had been done. It would take more than a week for the full examination and in that time he had the second task.

Fleur had asked them what happened repeatedly, but Harry refused to tell her anything. Finally, Ginny had confided in her. Understandably, she was angered beyond belief.

By the time of second task, he had calmed down considerably and started talking normally with Ginny and Fleur. But if you weren't those two, Merlin forbid if you came near him.

In the chilly morning, which was foggy too, since it was still February they were standing at the shore of Black Lake which looked more frozen than water.

"WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! TO THE SECOND TASK OF TR-WIZARD TOURNAMENT." Ludo Bagman's magically enhanced voice boomed through the sands set up around the lake.

But it was likely that no one was paying him any attention. In addition to noise level that would be considered hazardous, half of the spectators were busy ogling Victor Krum and the other half had their eyes glued to the French Veela. They were taking full advantage of Swimming gear. And in the middle of them stood the two Hogwarts Champions pitifully ignored in favour of fulfilment of carnal desires.

Krum wasn't a mass of muscle, that would be counterproductive of a seeker, but it would be more appropriate to say he was athletic, neither too big, not too small.

The loudest cheers though, were reserved for Fleur. Harry had a hard time deciphering whether it was a swimming suit or a Bikini, the two parts connected by flimsiest of strings possible. He pale blue colour really accentuated her glossy skin. So many wonderful ideas.

Tearing his eyes away from Fleur, Harry put the gillyweed in his mouth as the horn blew and jumped into freezing cold water.

After cursing the tournament organizers, Harry deftly made his way towards the center of lake where Ginny should be present. It was quite easy for him since he had scanned the lake many times before and knew which areas to avoid while rapidly moving towards the hostages.

Soon he could hear the merpeople sing the song that was in the egg. He had opened underwater just to be on the safe side. The task hadn't changed. They still had to rescue a hostage from merpeople.

He reached the village soon and spied Fleur coming from another direction. The gillyweed would be wearing off soon, he didn't have time to dawdle. He moved towards the hostages. It pained him to see Ginny in such a state, It reminded him of seeing her dead body. Trying not to dwell on such thoughts, Harry brought out a knife and cut off her binding.

Cradling her in his arms Harry pushed for the surface just as he felt the herb wearing of. He had seen Fleur reach her sister and was cutting her ropes. A few meters below the surface he felt the gill disappearing. With one last push he managed to break the surface.

Moments after, Fleur followed. They were the only ones who had finished within twenty minutes. The next champion didn't appear till half an hour late and it Cedric. He was followed shortly after by Krum who came last.

Somehow though, Fleur was first and him second.

 _Perverted Bastards._

Not that he cared, the tournament was of little importance to him and as long as he managed to destroy Voldemort along with his remaining two horcruxes, it was alright. Just one less title to worry about.

Remus had written back saying that he couldn't come up with any place that could be used to hide the horcrux for so long. If they had seen something as amazing as Ravenclaw's diadem they surely would have remembered.

Though the matter had taken somewhat of a backseat in recent days, what with the discovery of Lily's body and all that. The forensic results of which were due in any day.

Remus and Sirius were sitting in the kitchen pouring over books and newspaper in search of Ravenclaw's horcrux, drinking tea made by a cheerful Kreacher. Sirius still couldn't believe the change that had come over the old elf. He would sniff everything he mad, like somehow he could detect any nefarious item by the change in its smell.

They heard someone crash and Sirius groaned. He was getting sick of hearing this noise and other noises that came after which Remus and Tonks would never admit to.

"Stupid stand." Tonks muttered holding her foot as she came hopping in. "Change that bloody thing Sirius. Hey Remus."

Sirius certainly didn't miss the over exuberant greeting thrown towards his old time friend nor did he ignore the slight blush that came over his face.

"So dear cousin what lame excuse do you have for visiting 'us' today?" Sirius made imaginary commas around the word with his hand.

"Do I need a reason to visit now?"

"Certainly not Nymphadora" Seeing the threatening look on her face he immediately changed his stance. "I mean Tonks. Slip of tongue cuz, nothing else. There's no need for blood shed."

"Quite a slippery tongue you have Sirius."

"Now, Now, is that any way to speak to your Cousin once removed." Sirius said patronizingly. "Speaking of which how's Andi?"

"Mum says and I quote 'Screw you'."

"What did I ever do that woman?" Sirius exclaimed.

"You really should be asking what you didn't do to her." Remus answered.

"Come on." Sirius threw his hands up. "That was out of my brotherly affection for her."

"No sister sees ruining her first kiss a dozen times as brotherly affection, Sirius." Remus retorted.

"I was protecting her hounor like every righteous cousin brother should do." Sirius shrugged before his gaze turned suspicious. "Wait a minute I didn't tell you that. Have you been meeting her behind my back?"

"Err…" Remus wilted under Sirius' accusatory glare.

"How could I forget?" Tonks suddenly sat upright fom the chair she comfortably ensconced herself in. "The reason I came."

"What?" Sirius glared.

"The forensic results are in."

"What?" Sirius repeated himself. "What did that healer say?"

"Nothing." Tonks shook her head. He looked extremely pale and said he wanted to meet with you but an emergency cam so he had to write a letter.

"Letter?" Sirius and Remus shared a glance. "What could it be that he couldn't tell you?"

"I don't know but I don't like it." Tonks answered seriously. "That's why I rushed over." She took out the letter and placed it on top of table. "I haven't opened it yet."

Sirius let out his breath and picked up the letter. It felt heavy somehow like it was carrying a great burden.

He tore open the envelope and took out the page inside. The writing was an utter mess like someone had scrawled in haste.

His eyes scanned the page, about midway through, his eyes widened and blood drained from his face.

His hands were shivering so badly he couldn't hold the piece of parchment and it floated to the table.

"Sirius?" Remus prodded, worry lining his face. "What happened?"

Hearing no answer, Remus picked up the letter, Tonks too hesitantly drew nearer and peered over Remus shoulder.

He read the letter rapidly till his eyes fell on one word.

Necrophilia.

It was like a thunder bolt had fallen on him. His ears were ringing; he couldn't focus on what was in front of him. His vision swam.

Remus bolted from his chair and leaned against the sink. He vomited violently.

Tonks had sunk down where she stood, her mouth covered by her hand, tears were prickling her violet eyes.

"Merlin!" Sirius whispered. His voice was as broken as he looked. How am I going to tell Harry that?"

"Tell me what?" And there he was standing in the doorway, Ginny just behind, eyeing them suspiciously.

It was then that he saw the letter where Remus had dropped it who was still standing by the sink looking like he might be sick again.

He picked it up, shooting a glance at each of the three people looking nauseous. He started reading it.

His reaction was anything but pretty when he finished it. His face had contorted in disgust, his eyes were blood red and there was no doubt that he was boiling in anger. What was surprising though was that there were no bursts of accidental magic.

He fell down on a chair, Ginny on the one next to it looking as angry as Harry.

"Fucking Snivellus." Harry growled. "I am going to murder that Son of a Bitch. I knew he was doing something bad when we discovered Mum but this? I never thought even he could be this low.

"So what now?"

"Now?" Harry repeated angrily. "I'll track down that fucker, drag him back by his hair. Gouge out his eyes, then skin him alive and finally give him a bath of salt and pepper everyday till eternity.

"That's….Sadistic." Sirius commented.

"I wish we could have thrown that greasy bastard in Azkaban. How can something as horrendous as this be legal."

"An oversight." Remarked Tonks in answer to Remus. "The old coots never thought something like could ever happen. It never crossed their minds."

"That's more pathetic. No wonder the ministry is corrupted. It might as well fall on its face."

"What now?"

"Dumbledore has hidden him somewhere. He knows I won't let this go, but he's going to get what's coming for him."

The news just kept coming in. A few days after the horrible revelation, the whole castle rocked from a powerful explosion. It took teachers better half of a day to track the place where the explosion had originated. It was in one of the secluded corners of Hogwarts. The teachers found a room charred black. Everything inside had disintegrated. As soon as the teachers entered they felt sick. It was dark magic of highest calibre.

Only after Dumbledore had taken special precautions, were they allowed to enter again. Inside in the midst of ashes they found a skeleton turned black.

It was so brittle that they couldn't touch it lest it turned to dust. Carefully was it levitated and sent to St. Mungo's for examination.

A roll call of the students revealed that only person was missing. Hermione Granger. Indeed, soon the magical hospital confirmed that it was the muggleborns mitch.

A Eulogy was held for her in Hogwarts and the funeral day after which students were allowed to go to.

Harry didn't want to go but he found himself in the graveyard with a select few people. There were the Weasleys, Hermione's parents and few students that he knew. Other than that everyone else was a stranger to him. There was a sombre mood around. No one knew what had happened except for a few. An investigation had been launched but it was likely that it would yield nothing. The spell was so obscure and its effects even more so. Her wand had disintegrated with everything else and there was virtually nothing left inside the room. No clues to work with. The investigation had hit a dead end before it began.

Hermione's parents were still in shock and it was evident from their faces. They didn't interact much with anyone, hardly nodding their heads when people approached them to offer their consolation. Someone else, probably a close relative of theirs, was managing the funeral.

"It seems like she's destined for a messy end." Harry remarked as he saw Ginny make her way towatds him. She was with her family since the funeral began. Mrs. Weasley was shooting him glances and was the main reason Ginny hadn't come to him yet. She kept badgering her daughter with questions.

"What happened to her?"

There were rumours that after defecting towards the death eaters, Voldemort gave her to his minions to be used as they desired. She was essentially their sex slave. She died within a year like a dog. I doubt they even buried her."

"That's bad." Ginny shuddered.

"And once again she was a tool of death eaters. Used by them and then dying in their service. I guess some things can never be changed."

"You never told me why you let Hermione go that night?" Ginny asked with curiosity.

"I recognized the book she was holding." Harry answered. "Vilest of vile dark magic. She never could have controlled it. I have only seen Voldemort wield that spell with precision. If she had been successful I never would have stood a chance, but she never had the skill nor the temperament to last. I know this was going to happen and figured why stand in the way.

Ginny sighed. "That's cold Harry."

"Maybe." He shrugged. "But I don't care."

"I better go now." Harry stood up seeing that the Weasleys were making their way towards him. "Sirius and Remus are waiting for me. Enjoy your time with your family."

He started walking briskly but his escape wasn't successful. He found his way cut by the twins.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley made their way towards him.

"Hello Harry." Their greeting was guarded and their eyes scrutinized him carefully.

Harry closed his eyes. He didn't want to meet these people.

 _Good Grief._

Next moment he had apparated out of the funeral. He knew he shouldn't have done that but right now staying with the Weasleys would have been harder.

"Did he just apparate?" Mr. Weasley blinked.

"I knew Sirius Black was a bad influence on him." Mrs. Weasley screeched. "Look what he is teaching him, apparating illegally. Letting a convict near young children? What is Dumbledore thinking."

"Molly he couldn't…" Arthus tried to reason with Molly but Ginny cut him off.

"More importantly. I told you that you shouldn't meet him. He's going through a lot and is not yet ready to meet you.

"That's preposterous, Ginny dear!" Molly exclaimed. "That's exactly why we need to meet him. There's nothing some good food cannot cure. Poor Harry, he is not even talking to Ron and his best friend just died. I can't believe Dumbledore's making him participate in the competition in this state, let alone in the first place."

Ginny resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. She had just told her mother it was unlikely that Harry would be getting back with his previous best friend after something that had happened at the start of the year. She also said that it would be better if they stayed away from him for now.

"Arrogant prick." Ron muttered.

"Shut up Ron."

"No fighting you two." Molly admonished her two youngest. "And Ron, Watch your language."

In answer, Ron just stomped his feet and walked away.

"He'll be alright Molly." Arthur assured his worried looking wife. "He's just in that age."

Harry had apparated straight to Grimmauld place which had become their headquarters of sorts. For all his hatred, Sirius didn't look like moving anytime soon. Harry would drop by every other weekend or whenever he had time. Assignment didn't do themselves. Quite annoying actually. At least the was doing better this time around.

What was more annoying was the fact that Ravenclaw's horcrux was still as elusive as ever. He knew it was at Hogwarts but in the humongous castle, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Where in Hogwarts could it be?" Harry moaned, his head in his hands.

"If I may Master Harry Potter?" Kreacher said hesitatingly, placing tea before them. "The Elves at Hogwarts say there's a Come and Go room where things could be hidden for as long as you want."

"Wait." Sirius looked at the elf surprised. "You have been inquiring about it from Elves."

The elf nodded demurely.

"A place to hide things?" Harry frowned and then his eyes sparkled. "I know that place I have been there." Once again his features turned frowning. "But it's just such a mess. There are thousands of things there, No NO." harry shook his head. "I think I have seen it there."

"You have?" Sirius exclaimed.

Harry nodded with excitement.

"Then what are you still doing here?"

"Right." Harry nodded and disapparated from the house. After reaching Hogwarts, he made his way straight to the Room of Requirement. Soon he was standing in the cluttered mess where he had left the potion book.

He made his way through the mess, trying to figure out where he had left the potion book. It was in the drawer of a desk but where the desk in this mess? That was the hard part. It had been eight years since he left the book and thinking about it wasn't kind of a priority to him.

It took him two hours but he finally reached the place where he thought he had left the book. On the table, like he had remembered stood a bust on which was the Ravenclaw's diadem rusted and faded with time. Still there was an uncanny glitter to it.

He fished out a cloth from his pocket and draped it over the horcrux. You never know what ill affects one might carry. He picked it up carefuly and pocketed it. He looked around before hurrying towards the entrance.

On his way back, he stopped at the chamber and the Gryffindor Tower and picked up Ginny. It was only when they returned to Grimmauld place did he bear the full brunt of Weasley wrath.

"Hogging all the achievement for yourself while leaving me to attend a boring funeral?" Ginny gave him an accusatory glare. "Couldn't you have waited till I was free? The horcrux wasn't running somewhere nor the venom would have evaporated in a few hours."

Harry grinned sheepishly. "Sorry I got a little bit excited."

"A little bit?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "He was jumping all over the place like a kid with too much sugar."

"I so was not." Harry exclaimed.

"Anyway. "Ginny steered the conversation back into the right direction. "Where's the horcrux?"

He put his hand in the pocket and brought out the diadem covered in cloth. He set it down on the table and removed the cloth.

"Doesn't look as good as I thought it would be." Ginny scrunched up her face.

"Well it's a thousand years old." Harry motioned to Kreacher to remove the horcrux. "Now All that's left is destroying them."

"Voldemort can feel when one of the horcrux is destroyed." Harry continued. "So we'll destroy it as close to the end of third task as we could so Voldemort has no time to alter his plans."

"That's the plan." Sirius nodded.

"One more thing." Ginny interjected. "I have been thinking about it and I don't think something as elaborate as the plan cooked by Hermione and Draco could be done by the two of them. They won't even walk in the same corridor if they had any say in it.

Harry nodded. "I know and I have my own suspicions. Hermione and Malfoy working together? Never could have happened on its own."

"I don't like it." She whispered. "Maybe she did deserve it in the other lifetime but the way she died was horrible."

Harry let out a sigh and smiled at her. "His end won't be better than her."

The next two months passed in a flurry and he found himself standing at the start of the maze. This was that one task where he didn't have the advantage of knowing what he was facing beforehand. The chances of him taking the same routs again were practically zero. All he had to rely on was his superior magical experience and the rough idea where the centre of maze was.

Outrunning monsters, outfoxing the traps and defeating the acromantula that seemed to be guarding the cup he reached the centre. In the distance he could hear Krum screaming and then red sparks shot up in the sky. At least Fleur knew what was happening this time. Too bad she was no match for him.

He braced himself and touched the cup.

The walls around him collapsed and thunderous applause broke through the stadium.

"AND WE HACE OUR WINNER." Ludo Bagman screamed "THE ONE THAT NONE OF US FAVE A CHANCE IN THE BEGINNING BUT THE ONE WHO SHOWED US HIS RESILIENCE BY DOMINATING ALL THREE OF THE TRIALS. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I GIVE YOU THE WINNER OF TRI-WIZARD TOURNAMENT. HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

The crowd went even wilder when his name was spoken madly banging their hands, cheering and walloping.

The judges approached him and gave him congratulations, though Madame Maxime and Karkaroff looked a bit contrite.

Harry returned their smile and offered the cup to Dumbledore. He nodded his head and reached out to grab the cup.

Harry held his breath, Dumbledore's fingers inching ever closer to the cup. It felt like an eternity and then he grabbed the handle. The next moment he felt a tug at his navel and they were deposited in the graveyard.

As soon as they fell, two red coloured spells came at them. Harry was ready for this and immediately blocked it.

Dumbledore too seemed ready for this and moved out of the trajectory of the spell. Unfortunately, that put him right in front of Harry.

He never saw it coming. How could h? He never thought Harry would do something like this. A simple cutting curse and his head was rolling around on the ground.

It felt a bit anti-climactic for the greatest wizard of his age but nothing was more humiliating for such a great wizard than to die by a simple hex that even a fourth year could block.

Harry kicked his head away in disgust and looked around.

"Come out Lucius, I know you are there."

His voice echoed in the empty graveyard. No voice came except for owls hooting.

"Dammit Lucius, I am going to blow this whole graveyard up. I just killed Dumbledore. At least you can show me the courtesy of coming in front of me."

He looked around and waited. Still there was no movemet in the darkness.

If it wasn't for his sixth sense, he would have been mincemeat by now. He moved just in the nick of time and escaped the large jaws of a snake.

"Nagini." Harry stared at the snake slithering around, coiling for another attack.

Just then there was an inhuman scream and Nagini received a shock. The scream instead of dying just kept increasing in pitch.

The horcruxes had been destroyed.

Nagini rushed towards where the scream had come but Harry wasn't going to let it off that easy.

"Reducto!" A simple spell and the snake was reduced to bits. Once again a scream rose though this was much weaker.

The screams also had the unintended consequence of giving away Voldemort's position.

He pointed his wand and muttered. "Lumos Maxima!"

A bright orb of light shot out and hung in the air, illuminating the whole graveyard.

He spied black robes flying towards one direction. But he wasn't going to let it get away so easily.

He charged behind it, firing spells after spells but obviously he was quite skilled, countering and deflecting each and every one of his spells.

But how long? Finally, his concentration wavered and he fell down. A small bundle escaped from his grips and rolled away a few feet.

"Finally caught you." Harry regained his breath for a moment before walking towards the man who was finally standing up.

He side stepped a spell that the black cloacked man threw at him, replying with a binding spell. Topes appeared around him, slamming him into the ground once again.

With his foot, Harry rolled over the man. He was wearing a mask but from it greasy black hair, shining in the light could be easily seen.

The smile on Harry's face disappeared, replaced by a thundering look. He raised his leg and kicked Snape in the gut.

"YOU SNIVELLING CUNT!" He roared raising his leg once again and kicking him in the stomach. "HOW YOU FUCKING DARE DEFILY HER. YOU SON OF A WHORE!" He kicked him again. Snape was crying out in pain, his voice muffled by the mask that he was wearing.

Harry tore of his mask and grabbed him by his hair. Snape screamed once again, his hair were pulled so hard that Harry actually ripped out a fistful. Snape fell on the ground whining.

"FUCK, FUCK FUCK." Snape was rolling on the ground banging his head against the Earth from which blood was now pouring out.

But Harry didn't care he grabbed him by his hair again and threw against a tombstone.

"Wait here you worm." Harry spat. "I'll deal with you later."

Even if he wanted to he couldn't move. The force was so strong that he had momentarily blacked out.

Now Harry turned towards the blight of his life. He was crawling on the ground, emitting strange gurgling noises, trying so pathetically to cling to life. There was no arrogance, no grandeur, no larger than life presence of Lord Voldemort, terror of the World. What was there though was an abhorrent creature running away from death.

It made him disgusted. That he had to deal the last blow to such a low life. Even killing a cockroach barehanded would be less revolting than putting an end to this abomination.

"Incendio!"

Flames erupted from his wand and engulfed the disfigured creature. It howled, raising his tiny head up. It thrashed here and there trying ever so desperately to prolong his life for a moment.

But even fate had abandoned this freak. His body wouldn't catch fire, instead warts would appear on his body swelled with puss grey in colour. It would remain there for a minute or so before erupting, covering it in slime that was corrosive. Each time a wart would erupt, the messed up creature would scream in utter agony. The slime was slowly burning away the grey skin but even on his rotten flesh, the warts continued to appear.

This was what happened to those who defy nature. You can twist it, try to bend it to your own will but in the end Nature will win.

It was a scene he couldn't watch but even then he did. His eyes, remained glued there till all that was left was a puddle of slime and puss.

He turned around to face Severus who had a look of shock and fear on his face. Harry's eyes turned cold and he started walking rapidly towards him.

"Potter!" Even now he couldn't keep the disgust from his voice. "Coming to kill me. Come on then try it, like your father did."

"Don't say his name you snivelling coward." Harry roared.

"Love your parents much?" Snape taunted and then his eyes glazed over. "You and your stupid father, you are the reason I don't have Lily. YOU ARE THE REASON SHE'S DEAD. You are the reason she's dead. SHE BELONGED TO ME. Me. Me. Me. Me." He kept on chanting. "And just when she finally came to me. WHEN WE WERE HAPPY. You stupid thing came. WE HAD SO MANY GOOD MEMORIES. Give her back to me. GIVE HER BACK."

Harry looked at him with shock but soon anger returned. He tilted his head sideways, a cruel smile on his face. "You had memories? Accio." Dumbledore's wand came sailing to him.

Snape gave him a crazed look. "What are you thinking?"

But Harry advanced on him slowly giving him a maniacal smile. Snape tried to break his bonds but to no avail they were too strong.

"NO." He writhed on the floor. "DON'T DO THAT. DON'T TAKE AWAY MY BELOVED LILY."

"You have no right to ever remember her. Someone as nice as her. You defiled her." Harry whispered raising his wand. "Obliviate."

But one time wasn't enough, he cast it again and again till Snape's mind was a mess, his eyes turned white and blood was coming out of every single one of his orifice.

He turned around and staggered. His battle was complete. Now it was time to return home.

The aftermath was easy to deal with. His statement that he had passed out as soon as he arrived was accepted without blinking. Snape was carted off to Azkaban completely incoherent. And the Minister of Magic was happy to have his biggest political rival removed. Maybe that was the reason he wasn't subject to much scrutiny.

The year ended and with it everything bad. His chapter of nine years of struggle was finally closed and he had triumphed with a little bit of outside help.

"So what now?" Ginny had brought him out of his slumber. Sitting alone in a compartment without any worries for once and returning to a true home just like a true student.

Harry gave her a small smile. "Before Voldemort's death, I was sure I wanted revenge, something horrible for what they did to me. But now I am just tired, tired of fighting, tired of hating everyone. I guess I'll be happy if I never see their face again.

"That's a start." Ginny whispered to herself.

"What?"

Ginny gave him a dazzling smile and jumped in his lap. "Nothing. Now aren't you going to take advantage of sitting alone with a pretty girl?"

"As my lady commands."


End file.
